


finding you was so hard (but loving you is easy)

by togetherwecouldbealright



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, I promise it's not as cheesy as twilight, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Minor Violence, Rimming, Vampires, also because people keep asking this is sub/bottom!harry, and then it got dom/sub, harry and louis join the mile high club, it's almost there though, roadhead, shameless use of vampire diaries quotes, somehow i sexualized bowling, somewhere around 5k it just ran away and became this thing, vampires EVERYWHERE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-02-08
Packaged: 2018-01-11 08:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 66,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/togetherwecouldbealright/pseuds/togetherwecouldbealright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An incredibly shameless vampire!AU filled with stupid jokes, endless dates, flappy bird, a bro man dude pal sleepover thing and there also might be some sex in strange places.</p><p>Also known as the one where everyone is a vampire, Louis is oblivious and somewhere along the way it becomes a bit too much like Twilight.</p><p>
  <i> Then a string of thoughts make themselves clear in Louis’ head. First, Harry is a vampire. Second, Louis is a dumbass. Third, Louis is also unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. Fourth, he’s pretty sure he just quoted the back of the Twilight book. </i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Finding you was so hard (but loving you is easy)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10662711) by [HeillEos28](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeillEos28/pseuds/HeillEos28)



> Wow, this is... wow.
> 
> This fic is my baby that grew up and rebelled and took its own control. It quite literally wrote itself. 
> 
> First off, I would like to say this fic takes place in /The Vampire Diaries/ verse and you DO NOT need to watch the show to understand. If you have any questions though, feel free to tweet me about them at [@couldbealright](http://twitter.com/couldbealright/) !
> 
> A basic vampire in The Vampire Diaries verse has the typical super hearing, super strength, super speed and agility. They all have the ability to use mind compulsion and dream manipulation. When they feel things strongly, blood rushes to their eyes. The rest is explained within, but still feel free to ask questions.
> 
> This fic is for my dearie [Nina](http://archiveofourown.org/users/tomlinsunrise/pseuds/tomlinsunrise/), who has been waiting patiently since her birthday and I apologize that it took so long. I love you to the moon and back and this is for you, Nina. This is also a thinly veiled love letter to [Crystal](http://archiveofourown.org/users/manhattanselite/pseuds/manhattanselite/) who has been waiting for my vampire!AU. Also, to my twitter followers who dealt with teasers and constantly asked for the fic to be completed. Thank you.
> 
> I'm being honest when I say that this wouldn't have made it past 10k if it hadn't been for my wonderful beta [Holly](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hiswittlehands/pseuds/hiswittlehands/) who put up with me every single night for the past three weeks as I sent her draft after draft. So thank you Holly for being the best beta I could ask for. Also, [Emi](http://archiveofourown.org/users/thispieceofmind/pseuds/thispieceofmind/) who was there since the beginning, middle and at the end. Thank you both so much.
> 
> I hope this isn't disappointing to anyone and I'm sorry for such a long author's note. Warning for shameless use of TVD quotes and references to One Direction quotes/lyrics as well. I don't regret anything.
> 
> [Here](http://8tracks.com/eweiner5/finding-you-was-so-hard-but-loving-you-is-easy) is an 8tracks playlist also made by Emi to listen to while you read! Enjoy!

It’s dark.

The year is 1575 and when Harry blinks his eyes open, he can see everything. He can see every speckle of dust and hear every little sound. He’s still not used to it.

Harry groans as he stands up, stretching, and he can hear the crack of his back. He looks back down at his former spot and it’s nothing but just another part of the dirty ground.

He brushes off his clothes which are all ripped. He figures one day, it’ll be fashionable. Not today though. Right now he looks nothing but a mess.

With a sigh, he runs a dirty hand through his rumpled hair before walking out of the alleyway. It’s around two in the morning and Harry resents that he can’t be out and about during the day.

Instead, he has to sleep in a dirty alleyway with just enough shade to keep him from burning alive. It’s quite the life.

After getting out of the alley, Harry makes a show of stumbling into the street. There’s a boy that looks to be not much older than him a few feet away and he startles when he sees Harry.

Harry stares at him for a few seconds before crumpling to the ground and he can feel gravel pressing against his back. The boy’s face flickers in surprise and he hesitates before calling out to Harry.

“Are you okay?”

Harry doesn’t say anything but he makes a low sound that could pass for a whimper. The boy’s face grows soft at that and Harry sees him take a step closer.

“Mate? Y’alright?” he asks and all the while he’s moving towards Harry inch by inch.

Harry turns his face into the ground then before making a sound of pain. The boy’s pace quickens at that and in seconds he’s beside Harry.

He can smell alcohol on the boy's clothes but he doesn’t seem to be drunk. Not that it matters. The boy keeps pulling on his arm until he’s in a sitting position but he’s more slumping than anything else.

“What’s wrong?” The boy wonders. He’s prodding gently at Harry’s arm, trying to get Harry to look at him.

Harry blinks twice at the boy who’s still gazing worriedly at him. Within seconds, Harry’s whole face changes. It starts with a small smile toying at his lips before dark veins appear under his eyes.

The boy automatically startles back in shock but it’s too late. Harry knocks him to the ground, climbing over him until he’s nearly straddling him.

He looks down at the boy, catching his eyes and he looks seconds from screaming. “Don’t make a single noise,” Harry orders and the boy swallows thickly but follows Harry’s instructions.

“Good,” Harry murmurs and then the boy is letting out a silent scream as Harry’s teeth dig into the boy’s neck.

—

Louis has done some stupid things—okay, _a lot_ of stupid things but this may quite possibly be his stupidest. It’s not as if he did it on purpose except for the fact, well, he did.

It was supposed to be a joke, really. It wasn’t supposed to become such a big deal, yet here he is, standing in front of his new dorm in London instead of Doncaster, with heavy bags on either side of him.

The worst part is that Louis doesn’t regret it all. He doesn’t regret that he pulled the best end of the year prank ever in the history of his old university and he doesn’t regret that now he has to go to a university in London either.

Still, he didn’t think they would actually make him transfer. He figured the threat was just a clever rouse to scare him off—it was _definitely_ not that. He feels a bit sad for the loss of his old life but at the same time, he thinks it was destiny and he’s a big believer in fate so it all makes sense to him even if it doesn’t to his mother and step-father.

They let him go easy enough though and Louis doesn’t want to admit it, but standing in front of this dorm right now feels like a new beginning. It feels like an adventure and that first step inside the room is going to be his first exploration.

It does occur to him that he’ll probably get in trouble here too because that’s just what he does. He gets himself into the stupidest situations and everyone just follows him as if he’s a leader of some sort.

He’s not though. Louis is a lot of things—he’s dumb even while he’s book smart, he’s foolish and reckless, he’s confident and curious, he’s arrogant although he’ll refuse it, he’s daring and adventurous but he is nowhere near a leader.

Louis could never hold the weight of the world on his shoulders, even if he tried. It’s not just that though. It’s the fact that he doesn’t know how to be strong and brave and all the things that good leaders are. He doesn’t know but he still wants the whole world anyways and he thinks that might just be his biggest problem.

But right now, he gets to finally see a part of the world, albeit a tiny part in comparison to the rest. It’s still more than he’s ever gotten to see before and it makes his insides feel warm. He thinks if he were any more artsy, he’d be taking a picture and marking it down as ‘ _the start of something new_ ’. Luckily, he’s not.

He drops half his bags and bends down to reach for the key that he stuck in his shoe earlier so that he wouldn’t lose it. It seems unconventional but Louis knows he wouldn’t remember where it was if he hadn’t put it there.

When he gets the door open, the room feels cold. It’s not what he’s expecting and goose bumps form along his arms. He’s confused for a second before ignoring it and dragging his bags into the room.

Louis shuts the door behind him before pushing his bags towards the right side of the room. His roommate isn’t there but there’s a few papers on one of the desks on the left side of the room and there’s a jumper slung over a chair too, evidently marking which side of the room belongs to his roommate.

He’s struck by how immaculate his roommate’s side looks. It’s impeccably clean with everything already in place and even the bed is made. It looks like all his books are sorted on the shelves and there are no bags anywhere in sight.

Louis looks back at his own bags and sighs dejectedly. It’ll probably take him days to get everything properly sorted. He, however, does not want to look like a complete lazy tit on the first day so he crosses back to his side of the room and starts to unpack.

The rest of his plans for the day consist of meeting his best friend Stan later and going to some club so that he can get properly acquainted. Louis won’t admit it but he’s jealous of the fact that Stan has been here three years and seeing the world while he was stuck at home taking care of his sisters. He’s not sorry though because he loves his family more than anything, but at the same time, it makes him a bit bitter.

Louis can’t lie and say that he’s not excited to be here because, he’s as excited as a fifteen year old girl that’s just been asked out by the boy she likes.

It’s only when he finishes unpacking some clothes and pinning up a few photos that the door finally opens. Louis immediately drops the pair of shoes he’s holding and turns around with wide eyes.

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting to see but he figures that the form he filled out will give him a compatible roommate (although he’s heard stories of mix ups and he wonders if he’ll be one of those unlucky people, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he was).

At the same time, he’s hoping for someone that can be his partner in crime. Someone he can goof off with just _because_. The prospect is too thrilling for Louis to even think about properly. He can already imagine all the fun they’d have together and it’s just—Louis wants to have some real _fun_ for once in his life. He wants to live for himself and not for those around him.

When he looks at the doorway, there’s a boy standing there with dark skin, the color of mocha. His hair is in a weird mix of a quiff and a fringe but Louis is immediately struck by how attractive he is. He’s not Louis’ type, but he’d have to be blind to not see how good looking the boy is.

His cheekbones are sharp—better than his own, Louis thinks sadly—and they cut across his skin. His eyes are dark and his nose is pointed. His lips are turned down when he enters and then he turns to stare at Louis who immediately steps forward, holding out a hand.

“I’m Louis,” He introduces, smiling brightly and the tanner boy looks momentarily shocked, lips parted. He furrows his eyebrows, shaking his head before his eyes seem to widen in realization. He looks young then and Louis remembers that one of the few things he did know about his roommate was that he was twenty and that he’d been in the same dorm the previous year.

Louis watches as the dark haired boy groans, slapping a hand against his forehead in irritation. “Stupid Irish bastard,” He mutters under his breath and then he looks at Louis again, measuring him up this time.

“Zayn,” The boy finally says, reaching out to shake Louis’ outstretched hand. His grip is firm and the handshake doesn’t last more than a few seconds.

Then Zayn turns away, walking towards his bed and pulling a phone out from seemingly nowhere. His fingers fly fast across the screen and Louis stares after him blankly before looking down at his hand.

He immediately drops it and feels his face flush in chagrin. He’s never received that type of response from anyone after just meeting them. He feels all his hopes crumble to the ground pathetically.

“Okay then,” Louis mutters quietly to himself and he swears he hears Zayn snort but when he looks up the boy is sitting silently at his desk, still staring at his phone.

Louis frowns before looking back at his wall and shrugging to himself. He doesn’t know why the boy seems so shocked at Louis’ presence. It’s seems like Zayn doesn’t want to be rooming with him—or maybe _anyone_ at all. Louis feels like he’s been cheated out of the perfect new friend.

Louis knows there’s really nothing he can do besides try to get the boy to warm up to him over the course of the year. He think he can at least do _that_ although his roommate seems like the type that’ll never be in their shared dorm in the first place.

He isn’t sure whether that’s a good or bad thing.

The rest of the afternoon is spent with relative silence on both Louis and Zayn’s part. Neither says anything but once in a while when Louis looks up he sees Zayn glance up from his phone and watch Louis carefully.

It’s quite alarming actually but Louis is determined to ignore how weird his roommate is.That proves to be difficult as Zayn might possibly be the oddest person Louis’ ever met.

While he’s tan, he’s ridiculously pale too. Louis doesn’t know how that’s even possible but clearly it is. Also, he’s frighteningly quiet. At one point when Louis turns to pick up a pair of shorts he dropped, Zayn is on the other end of the room, digging silently through his own closet.

Louis didn’t even hear him get _up_ , much less move across the entire room. When Louis tries it, the floor creaks just a tiny bit and his own footsteps are loud. He swears he even breathes noisier than Zayn does—if the boy breathes at _all_.

Louis isn’t used to being so silent for so long and he finds himself bouncing around and putting away clothes or pinning up more pictures to keep himself distracted. He can’t help it, really.

At some point he puts up some Marvel posters and he hears Zayn make a noise of approval. When he looks over, Zayn looks like he might almost be smiling.

That’s the closest they get to conversation before Louis’ phone goes off with a text from Stan. Louis gets up—basically jumping at the first human interaction he’s had in a couple of hours—to get his phone and Zayn leaves the room, slinging a jacket over his shoulder.

He doesn’t say goodbye and Louis scrunches his noise in distaste at the back of the closing door. He’s not used to being shut out by someone—he’s not used to be shut out at all. It’s pretty strange actually. It makes him feel like he’s completely cut off from the other boy but Louis knows it’s nothing he can’t overcome.

It’s just a bit sad, really, because he thinks that if Zayn would actually speak to him, they might be good friends. It’s not like Louis was put with Zayn for no reason—there has to be _something_ compatible about them and he swears he’ll figure it out and get Zayn to be his friend because there’s nothing Louis takes to quite like a challenge.

Louis finds himself trying to think of a plan as he unlocks his phone to read Stan’s text which just tells him to meet the other boy outside.

He doesn’t hesitate to slip on a pair of jeans and some loose jumper that’s lying at the bottom of one of his bags. He takes the stairs this time all the while wondering whether his whole life is about to change. If everything is about to turn upside down and inside out.

Louis’ never really been away from Doncaster for an extended period of time but right now he’s going to be living in another city for the next few _years_ and he finds that beyond exhilarating. It literally puts a jump in his step and he forgets all about his morbid roommate as he meets Stan with a grin.

“There you are,” Stan says as a way of greeting and before Louis can say anything, he’s being pulled into a bone crushing hug and he feels his grin grow wider. He’s missed Stan—missed the way they effortlessly understand each other because that’s just what happens after being best friends for so long.

“Here I am,” Louis agrees, pulling back only to see his best friend shake his head fondly. Louis knows Stan missed him too although neither will voice it aloud first.

“Come on, you’ve got people to meet,” Stan announces instead after a moment of affectionate silence, tugging them away from the building and Louis follows easily with a grin.

He has no idea where they’re going. He doesn’t know his way around at all frankly and he’s sure that he’s going to be incredibly lost his first day of classes but he doesn’t worry about that now. Instead, he takes in everything slowly. From the street lights to the students milling around campus, everything just feels that much bigger and brighter than Doncaster ever was.

They end up at the club sooner than Louis expects and the place is basically packed. Louis feels shocked at first because it’s a Tuesday night but clearly no one there cares because they’re all laughing loudly, throwing back shots and curling into booths. There’s several people dancing and Louis thinks they look like a unit as they move together.

Louis feels himself relax as he melts into the crowd, letting the music swallow him. Before he knows it, he’s in the middle of a large group of people, listening to them laugh as he talks animatedly. In a matter of an hour, he’s already gotten a bunch of numbers saved into his phone and people promising they’ll catch up with him soon. It’s nice—he feels like he’s been accepted and it’s only been the first night. He can see that Stan’s watching with a satisfied grin and Louis heads over to him near the bar after ending the conversation he’s having with the few people that are nearby.

Louis is used to making people laugh and smile and he’s used to them yelling loudly in his ears. He’s used to being the center of attention and as shallow as it makes him sound, he takes pleasure in it. He likes knowing people enjoy having him around. He likes feeling like he’s wanted.

“Mister Popular already?” Stan teases and Louis laughs, rolling his eyes before he can help it, throwing back a drink as he turns to his best friend.He can’t stop smiling, really. He feels ridiculously happy and it’s just a relatively nice feeling. It feels like everything is sliding into place.

“Working on it,” Louis promises and motion towards the bartender for another drink who happily obliges, passing one over. He turns back to Stan and before either of them realize it, they’re somehow in a full blown discussion. They talk about things like home and memories and plans for the year and just a lot in general.

Louis realizes he really has missed Stan and he’s about to say so when the urge to pee hits him really bad. He freezes where he’s standing, his mouth open to take another sip of his drink and realizes, he _really_ needs to go. He’s sure the expression on his face is laughable.

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the bathroom,” Louis says quickly before he’s rushing off, missing what Stan says in reply but he swears it’s something like, “Be careful.”

Louis doesn't think too much of it as he pushes the door to the bathroom open, ignoring the couple making out against the wall in favor of going straight to the urinals.

Minutes later, Louis walks to the sink, washing his hands when he hears the couple become silent. Something buzzes which Louis can only assume is a phone and then he hears a hushed, "Babe, we have to go. Styles is here. I don't want you near him. He and his whole group are a bunch of freaks,” from the girl in the couple.

"Yeah, let's go. I don't want to be around him either. A bit too much for me," the guy agrees and Louis looks over his shoulder in confusion to see the two slam the door shut behind them.

Louis continues washing his hands, too drunk to really care what they were talking about but not drunk enough that it slips past him completely. Over the rush of water, he misses the nearly silent sound of the door opening. Instead, Louis frowns and stands on his tiptoes to grab a paper towel before whirling around as soon as his fingers close around it, bumping into someone.

His immediate reaction is step back and when he does, he hears the stranger in front of him mutter, “Oops,” and yet somehow it has a hidden mirth to it that Louis doesn’t quite understand. It’s as if there’s a joke which Louis missed the punch line to.

Louis is disorientated for a second, his vision blurring before his eyes focus on the person in front of him. When it does, he feels his own eyes widen.

The boy in front of him is staring at him with dark eyes, a rim of green surrounding the pupils and there are dark lines smudged around his eyes which Louis belatedly realizes might be eyeliner. Louis' eyes travel down to the boy's lips which are a pretty pink color before tracing over his jawline and the way his cheekbones are high up on his face. There are brown curls on top of his head that look like they belong locked in Louis' hands, like they're begging to be tugged.

Looking even more down, he can see the hint of a tattoo on the back left side of the boy's neck, leading down towards his spine but Louis can't really make it out. The boy’s wearing two shirts—an unbuttoned plaid shirt matched with a sinfully revealing, low-collared shirt which reveals the tips of wings on the boy's chest. Along the boy's left arm there are smaller tattoos littered across which Louis doesn't have time to analyze as he comes to the conclusion that the boy has realized Louis is checking him out, if the small smirk on his face is anything to go by.

"Hi," Louis squeaks instead, his voice being higher pitched than he intends and Louis clears his throat in embarrassment. He’s making a complete fool of himself and in the morning, he’s going to hate himself for drinking as much as he did.

"Hello." The boy’s lips are quirking up a bit more and twin dimples indent the sides of his cheeks. Louis’ life seriously isn’t fair.

"I didn't mean to bump into you. I'm sorry," Louis attempts to apologize, momentarily glancing down at the tiles on the floor before looking up and the boy is raising an eyebrow, a tiny grin on his face.

Louis notices then, how pale he is. His skin is nearly translucent and Louis wants to reach out and touch. He doesn’t though because he’s not _that_ drunk.

"You don't have to be. Maybe it was my intention all along," The boy counters and his voice is slow, steady and holding and Louis thinks that something just _clicks_ about him.

Louis tilts his head up and to the side before realizing that this boy is a good few inches taller than him. "I—what? I'm sorry, I don't think I understand."

The boy just keeps grinning before stepping away into one of the empty stalls.

When he goes in, someone else rushes out of the stalls frantically, belt unbuckled. They don’t even look at Louis before they run out.

Louis stands there for a few seconds confused before shaking his head and walking out of the bathroom himself. He doesn’t really know what’s going on but he doesn’t think he’d understand even if someone explained it to him.

When he gets back to the bar, Stan is slouching against one of the stools, cheeks flushed. “What took you so long?” Stan wonders as Louis slides up and sits in the stool beside him. It might just be Louis but there’s something shaky about the way Stan is attempting to speak nonchalantly.

He calls it an attempt because he knows damn well what Stan looks like when he’s lying.

“Just ran into someone,” Louis drawls and then he remembers what happened in the bathroom seconds before the boy walked in. “Also, who’s Styles?”

Stan freezes, turning to look at Louis hesitantly. “Why?”

The entire atmosphere seems to change, growing tense. Stan’s eyes are darting around anxiously and Louis feels completely bewildered at the sudden shift. “Um, someone in the bathroom was talking about them. I don’t really know. I got curious,” Louis admits slowly and it’s then that he takes notice of the way people around them are whispering mutedly to each other, worried looks passing between them.

“He’s—well. Just stay away from him, yeah?” Stan urges and his eyes are saying something that Louis can’t understand. While Louis is beginning to feel somewhat sober, he’s apparently still not sober enough to get what Stan is trying to tell him because what tumbles out of his lips is another question.

“Why?”

Stan grimaces and Louis doesn’t know what he said wrong. He wonders how he can backtrack the night and go back to a point where everyone around him was laughing and Stan didn’t look the mixture of worried and terrified.

“He’s—this sounds so insensitive of me, but, uh, he’s a maneater,” Stan explains, flinching near the end of his sentence which makes Louis stare at him blankly.

Louis is too stupid for this, honestly. “What the hell is that?”

Stan rolls his eyes then, shoving lightly at Louis and that makes Louis feel better because he doesn’t like the way Stan looks like he’s honestly terrified of something. “It’s a womanizer, basically. Only with men.”

“So he sleeps with a lot of guys,” Louis deadpans, blinking twice at Stan. “Why does that even matter?”

“Not a lot,” Stan corrects. “Literally all of them. Straight, bi, gay—taken or not, you name it and they’ve all slept with him. They just can’t help it. It’s weird. He’s weird—him and all his friends.” Stan looks distinctly bitter when he says it and Louis can’t help the dry chuckle that slips between his lips.

“Christ, what did you do, Stan? Did _you_ sleep with him?” Louis teases, taking a sip of his drink but when a minute passes by without Stan saying something, Louis turns to him with a shocked expression.

“You didn’t, did you?” Louis wonders only to realize Stan isn’t listening to him, rather watching someone on the other side of the room with eyes that look as alarmed as they did before.

Louis follows his line of sight to a corner of the club where there’s four boys huddled around each other. Louis squints and is only slightly shocked when he realizes one of them is Zayn.

He’s wearing the leather jacket he took with him and a pair of sunglasses is hanging from the front of his shirt. He’s talking fervently to a blond boy who’s nodding along, a beer in his hands. Behind them are two other boys, but they’re obscured from Louis’ view and he doesn’t feel like moving to see who they are.

Only then does Louis notice that there’s a large amount of space between the four of them and everyone else in the club, almost as if everyone is purposely avoiding them.

Stan turns back to him, a distracted look on his face. “I haven’t slept with him. I keep my distance like everyone smart knows to do,” Stan informs quietly, lips turning down into a frown.

“So what, he sleeps with people and you guys shun him because of that?” Louis asks, bewildered because he doesn’t understand what kind of logic that is. He’s slept with a fair amount of people himself and he hopes he’s never treated like this Styles guy is being treated.

“Louis, you don’t understand,” Stan mumbles, eyes flashing back to the four boys before looking back at him. “He’s not—there’s just something _wrong_ about him, alright? He gives off this bad vibe and it’s just. He’s creepy.” It’s a pathetic explanation and it makes Louis sigh loudly.

“I heard he’s here,” Louis says instead because he rather doesn’t like the way his best friend is mouthing off about this person. While Stan—and everyone else in the room probably knows more about the guy than Louis does, he just can’t stand the way all of these people are treating this guy at all. He finds it immature if he’s honest, and he’s the most childish person ever.

“Yeah,” Stan agrees slowly before tilting his head towards the group again. “He’s over there.”

Louis looks back over at the four guys and they’re all sitting in a booth now. He can see Zayn holding a red drink and the blond boy is laughing next to him.

It’s alarming how attractive they both are but Louis pushes that to the back of his mind. He still can’t see the other two from where he’s sitting and he cranes his head in attempt.

“Which one?” Louis wonders out loud, looking back at Stan.

Stan tilts his own head to the side before shaking his head and shrugging. “You can’t see him from here. But he’s got curly hair,” Stan offers and the first thing Louis does is think back to the boy in the bathroom.

He remembers how the person in the other stall ran out as soon as the curly haired boy disappeared into one of the empty stalls and he feels like a complete idiot.

“He’s really pretty, yeah? Green eyes, tattoos?” Louis asks, licking his lips uncertainly and Stan shoots him an alarmed look.

“Yeah?” Stan answers, eyes narrowing and Louis feels his face flush.

“He’s a slag?” Louis wonders in disbelief because while the boy was ridiculously pretty and alluring, Louis doesn’t see him as type to sleep with people left and right. Then again, Louis knows next to nothing about him.

Stan nods solemnly which makes Louis break into laughter because he can’t help it and because he doesn’t believe it’s possible. Stan shoots him a scandalized look but Louis just keeps laughing before standing up, making his way through the crowd.

He doesn’t know what he’s doing or why he’s stupid enough to be doing it but it has a lot to do with the fact that he’s impulsive and reckless. It’s thoughts like these running through his mind and yet he doesn’t stop what he’s doing.

He can hear Stan calling his name behind him but he really doesn’t bother with it, pushing past people before he’s in the empty space between the four boys and everyone else.

The blond is the first to notice him. He elbows Zayn in the ribs and Zayn glares before turning to where Louis is approaching. He raises an eyebrow before kicking the person in front of him.

When Louis gets to the table, it’s silent.

He can see the two boys he couldn’t before and as he predicted, one of them is the curly haired boy who’s grinning delightedly at Louis.

The other is a boy with brown hair and brown eyes and he’s pretty too—it’s absolutely ridiculous to be honest. Louis thinks he might ask if he can join their little group thing if only to be as pretty as the rest of them.

“Can we help you, Louis?” The curly haired one asks, lacing his fingers together as he quirks an eyebrow. Suddenly Louis realizes he’s an absolute idiot and he has no idea what the hell he’s doing.

He thinks the whole club has gone quiet and is watching them now but he can’t really hear much over the rush of blood in his ears.

It’s then that he realizes he didn’t tell them his name and he feels very uncomfortable before realizing Zayn could have easily told them. Then it occurs they’re all staring pointedly at him and he should probably be saying something.

“Right,” Louis says blankly and he sees the blond boy’s lip quirk up as he takes a sip of his beer.

He figures this couldn’t get any more embarrassing than it already is and if he’s going to do this, he’s going to do it right and not by looking like an idiot.

“Right,” Louis repeats again,“I was wondering, if you’d like to go on a date with me?” Louis makes sure to point specifically to the curly haired boy so as not to stir any confusion.

There’s a pause where everyone stares at him blankly before the blond boy interrupts the silence with, “Oi, Harry, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you get asked out in the past hundred years.” He’s clearly teasing and the curly haired boy isn’t saying anything, just looking at Louis curiously. He thinks the other brown haired boy kicks the blond because the blond yelps in pain a second later.

“You want to go on a date with me?” The boy—Harry—repeats slowly, a bewildered expression on his face.

“Yeah, I do,” Louis agrees, biting his lip as he tilts his head and waits for an answer. Even if Harry says no, at least Louis wasn’t a baby about it. He probably shouldn’t have taken what Stan said about Harry sleeping with people as a challenge but he did because, well, he’s _him_.

That and he sort of, kind of, really wanted to see if a good fuck was really all that Harry wanted or if there was something more there and whether everyone was judging him without any real reason to. He respects a healthy sex life and he can’t fathom why everyone is being such a prude about it.

Also, Harry’s pretty much gorgeous and Louis isn’t losing anything except maybe a bit of his pride if Harry says no. He’s willing to take the risk.

“Like a date-date? As in, you want to take me out?” Harry wonders and there’s something bright about his eyes. Louis realizes it wasn’t eyeliner smudged around his eyes before but rather dark circles. Louis is very glad he sobered up because clearly he’s a bit blind when he’s drunk.

Harry’s still as pretty as ever though, even with bags under his eyes. Louis can’t tear his eyes away from him.

“Yeah, that’s what dates consist of. Maybe we could go for some lunch or something tomorrow. I don’t know—whatever’s convenient for you,” Louis says amiably and Harry looks honestly confused.

Louis feels bad then because it seems as if Harry’s never been properly asked out before and that’s why he’s reacting so poorly. The look on his face makes Louis want to hug him and he decides even if Harry is some ‘maneater’, he’ll still want to be the boy’s friend just because he can be.

“You don’t want to sleep with me,” Harry guesses, mouth curling downwards and Louis nearly laughs because that’s honestly the last thing Louis doesn’t want to do.

“No, I do,” Louis disagrees, shrugging before grinning, “It’s just not the only thing. I’d like to go on a date with you first, if you’d let me. Maybe even more than one. But I’m not going to push my luck.”

Harry looks a bit awed by that and he hears Zayn snicker to his side, face pressed into the blond boy’s arm. The other brown haired boy looks positively delighted by what’s happening as does the blond boy, although he looks more amused than anything else.

“So you want to go on a date,” Harry repeats one more time and Louis laughs before he can help it.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Louis confirms with a grin and Harry shyly smiles at him. It’s a sweet smile and Louis wants to take a picture and shove it in the face of anyone who’s ever said anything bad about this boy.

“I’d like that,” Harry admits quietly and his dimples are showing and—how in the world has this boy fucked basically everyone in the club—it’s not _possible_. Stan has either gotten better at lying since Christmas or Harry’s a phenomenal actor.

“Then it’s a date,” Louis says and Harry nods, ducking his head before looking back up with a small smile.

“It’s a date.”

There’s a moment of them just smiling at each other before the other brown haired boy is shoving something in Louis’ hand that looks like a crumpled napkin. Louis notices there’s a ring on his left hand that looks distinctly familiar. He doesn’t have time to think about it as the boy starts talking.

“Harry’s number,” He explains and Harry lets out this giggle before slapping the brown haired boy on the back of his head.

“You would, Liam,” Harry mumbles, rolling his eyes fondly and Liam rubs the back of his head with a pained expression.

Louis has to bite down on his lip to keep from smiling too big as he starts to back away slowly, waving before he turns around and heads back to the other side of the club.

Everyone is staring at him—he’s not exaggerating when he says everyone because it’s literally every single person. They’re all staring with wide eyes and when he gets back to Stan, the brown haired boy is glaring.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” Stan demands as Louis shoves the napkin with Harry’s number on it into his back pocket.

“A lot of things,” Louis answers, shrugging and Stan grumbles something unintelligible.

“What did you think you were _doing_? I told you they were bad news.” Stan is looking pretty close to ripping his hair out and Louis reaches out to pat his arm consolingly.

“I was just asking Harry on a date,” Louis says innocently and Stan just stares at him in disbelief.

“You did _what_?” Stan protests and this time, Louis is worried he actually will rip his hair out.

“I just told you, I asked him out,” Louis repeats, slower this time before sitting down on the stool, grabbing the drink he left behind.

He feels almost dizzy with the way he’s been alternating between half-sober and half-drunk throughout the night.

Stan stares at him blankly before sighing. He looks pretty appalled and Louis kind of feels bad for being responsible but at the same time, not really because it’s kind of funny.

“Was it a nice hit to your ego? Did you enjoy getting shot down? Jesus, Lou, I told you he’s the definition of a maneater. He’s not going to want to go on a date.” Stan is frowning and Louis can’t help but immediately raise an eyebrow at his best friend’s assumption.

“What are you even talking about, Stan?” Louis wonders and in his peripheral vision he notices that people are slowly inching their way back to the middle of the club, still seemingly wary of the four boys who aren’t doing much other than talking to each other.

It’s ridiculous, really.

If Louis looks at them from the corner of his eye, he can see that Harry and Zayn have switched places and that Harry is stealing glances at him every so often.

He pretends that he’s not itching to stare back.

“I’m talking about the fact that my best friend otherwise known as you is an idiot and that I hope the fact that he turned you down  is enough to keep you away from him,” is what Stan says in a way of explaining, still frowning disapprovingly at Louis.

He swallows the giggle that creeps up his throat. “Oh. Yeah. Of course. Never going to talk to him again. His rejection stung me so deep. I’ll never get over this. How will I ever go on? Will you kiss my battle wounds?” Louis’s voice is so flat that Stan smacks his arm.

When Louis peaks over at Harry from the corner of his eye, the taller boy is shaking with laughter, looking down at his table.

Louis almost smiles because for a second he lets himself believe that Harry’s laughing because of him before remembering they’re on opposite sides of the room.

“It’s not funny, Louis. You’re such an idiot. You’re literally begging for trouble. You know that Taylor Swift song about trouble? Yeah, it was written about Harry Styles,” Stan says and Louis rolls his eyes.

“Very funny,” Louis says drily.

“You’re lucky Styles said no. I can’t imagine exactly how much trouble you’d get yourself into with him around.” Louis isn’t paying much attention to what Stan is saying anymore, instead focusing on how people have finally stopped blatantly staring at Louis. They keep throwing him glances though and it’s clear he’s made quite the impression on his first night of university.

“Who said he said no?” Louis challenges when he turns back to the conversation and Stan looks appalled again.

“Of course he said no. Why wouldn’t he say no? He doesn’t date. He fucks.”

Louis just smiles dreamily in response. “Guess that’s where you’re wrong mate.”

Stan just continues staring flatly at him before he grabs Louis’ arm. “You’re clearly smashed. Let’s get you back to your dorm. I think you’ve properly acquainted yourself with everyone here,” Stan grumbles before sighing dejectedly and tugging at Louis again.

Louis pouts but Stan is adamant, still tugging until Louis gives in and then they’re slipping through the crowd. They’re at the door before Louis really understands what’s happening but just as he leaves, he catches Harry’s eye and watches the boy mouth the words, “See you,” and  it feels like a promise.

—

Louis wakes up in the afternoon with a pounding headache and a twinge in his neck. He sits up, rubbing his eyes before taking a bleary look around.

He’s in his dorm and his pants are on the floor but there’s a blanket over him, so it’s not as embarrassing as it could be and he makes a mental note to thank Stan for that later.

Zayn isn’t there but his laptop is running open on his desk and there’s a bagel next to it. Louis figures he couldn’t have strayed far.

Louis shakily gets to his feet, holding on to the table beside him for support and when he doesn’t immediately fall to the floor, he lets out a sigh of relief.

He reaches for a pair of sweats near the bottom of his bed and slides those on first, knowing Zayn could be back any minute.

After that, he rubs at his eyes again and yawns, wincing at the hammering in his head. He pushes everything out of his mind and makes food a priority. He doesn’t notice he’s eyeing Zayn’s bagel until the tanner boy walks in, raising an eyebrow.

Louis immediately looks away, pretending to be interested in a loose string on the sleeve of his shirt but Zayn doesn’t look like he cares all that much as he reaches around his chair to get the bagel.

“Here,” Zayn says, before placing it on the table next to Louis and sitting back down in his chair. He doesn’t say anything else as he starts to type.

There’s a beat of silence before Louis rasps, “Thank you,” and Zayn nods in acknowledgement.

It’s when he’s nearly done with the bagel that he remembers the events from the night before and nearly chokes on his food.

He eyes Zayn again, feeling wary but the tanner boy still has his back to him.

Louis is sort of really dumb and last night just further proves that fact. But at the same time Harry said yes to him, so he can’t be _all_ that stupid (except for the fact he is).

It occurs to him only after finishing the bagel that he has nothing to drink. He sighs to himself, standing up and stretching his limbs. He grabs a beanie from where it’s hanging over his bedframe and he’s about to head out when he hears Zayn turn towards him.

“You going to get a drink?” Zayn calls and Louis stops from where he’s reaching for the door, turning around and nodding slowly instead.

Zayn pauses, clearly hesitating before he pushes his chair back and stands up. He moves a jumper from where it’s hanging off the side of his desk before knocking rhythmically against the wall in the space next to the desk.

After he’s done with that, he starts typing something into the desk where the jumper was hanging and Louis realizes it’s some sort of keypad.

When he’s done, he steps back satisfied and Louis can only watch curiously, hand still on the doorknob. He nearly trips over his own feet when an entire section of the wall slides to the left, disappearing behind the rest of the wall.

“What the fuck,” Louis mutters under his breath, watching with wide eyes as Zayn steps in the dark space where the wall was.

Louis can’t see anything as Zayn disappears but when he comes back, he’s holding a cold water bottle. Zayn tosses it towards him and Louis just manages to catch it with shaky hands.

He’s so confused—like _seriously_ confused. Zayn turns back around and gives the part of the wall that’s still there a solid kick. Louis can only watch in amazement as it slides back in place.

“What the fuck,” Louis repeats bluntly and Zayn shrugs before grinning. Louis isn’t going to admit it but the smile scares him more than it reassures him of anything.

“Stick with me kid. I’ll take you places,” Zayn jokes flatly and Louis first thought is that if that’s his teasing voice they really need to work on it.

“I’m older than you,” Louis counters but he’s still staring at the wall in wonder, almost as if he can’t help himself. He honestly doesn’t know what just happened or how it happened—or what’s going on in general. He’s completely lost because there’s a fucking secret lair in his dorm.

“Wouldn’t be too sure of that.” Zayn’s cryptic reply does little to settle Louis’ questions and Louis kinds of wants to hit him as the dark haired boy sits back down.

“You’re twenty,” Louis accuses defensively and Zayn just grins his scary grin again in response.

“Just like Harry is nineteen,” Zayn agrees and his eyes are twinkling in a way that Louis doesn’t understand. He doesn’t really think he wants to either.

However, Zayn’s words spark memories and when Louis closes his eyes, behind his eyelids he sees pale skin and green eyes. It makes him want to smile. “Right. Harry.”

Zayn’s expression changes, turning amused. “Yeah, Harry. Who you’re going to get lunch with, right?”

“Right,” Louis repeats and he looks over at his jeans which still have Harry’s number in the back pocket. In the back of his mind, he knows what Zayn’s doing—he’s changing the subject. Louis’ done it enough times himself to know how it works.

“Try not to let him eat you instead of the meal,” Zayn mutters under his breath before turning around, leaving Louis staring at his back in confusion.

He would get stuck with the most cryptic guy in the school as his roommate—he just _would_. Louis eyes the wall one more time, wondering how the _fuck_ Zayn opened  it up and why there’s a secret lair in the first place. He doesn’t think he can repeat the knocking pattern nor the combination even if he tries.

On the bright side it seems that one good thing is coming out of it. At least his roommate is speaking to him. That has to count for something. Probably not though.

After silently staring at the wall for a solid minute, he looks down at the drink in his hand. He briefly wonders if it’s poisoned before he shrugs to himself, taking off the cap and swallowing down a large portion of it in one go.

He sees Zayn texting someone from the corner of his eye and it reminds him that he should be texting someone as well—making plans with them.

He glances forlornly at his jeans before sighing and trudging over to them. He hears Zayn snicker and he almost wants to glare but he knows it’ll do no use.

Louis picks his jeans off the floor and reaches into the back pocket, pulling out a crumpled napkin. He eyes it skeptically as he drops his jeans back to the floor. He can already tell that his side of the room will always be a mess.

He stares at the number long and hard before shuffling over to his desk and grabbing his phone. Louis can see Zayn grinning from the corner of his eye as he types the number in.

The text is simple enough but Louis still hesitates to send it. He still ends up doing it because he’s afraid of a lot of things-like for example, squirrels-but not of sending a text to a pretty boy.

_Hey are we still on for lunch ? :)_

While he waits for the text, he stares blankly at the wall again still wondering how Zayn basically got half the wall to drop to move with a press of a few buttons and he decides that when he gets back he’s going to interrogate the younger boy.

Preoccupied with his thoughts, he jumps when his phone buzzes in his hand. Zayn laughs at him and this time Louis does glare before scrambling to unlock his phone.

_If this is Louis, of course! If this is Niall again, I seriously will not hesitate to end your life .x_

Louis has a fleeting wonder about who Niall is and why Harry is threatening to end his life before shaking his head and quickly tapping out a reply to curly haired boy.

_pretty sure I’m Louis but you can never be 100 % can you ? But if we’re doing this, you’re going to have to be the one to take me places because I’ve been here for like… a day_

Louis doesn’t know why but there’s a smile tugging at his lips as he waits for Harry’s text. He takes a seat on his bed, pulling his legs up and crossing them over each other. His phone buzzes against his thigh again and he reaches for it immediately.

_I could’ve sworn you were the one that asked ME out…but I’d love to! You’re rooming with Zayn, right? Meet me outside your building in ten .x_

Louis doesn’t even reply, falling dejectedly against his bed. There’s a beat of silence before Zayn starts full on laughing at him.

Louis groans and tosses his pillow at him, which of course the boy catches easily. “Wanker,” Louis mutters under his breath and Zayn isn’t supposed to hear but somehow he does because he just starts laughing again.

He kind of wants to throw his pillow again but he’s lost it to the enemy so he can’t. He sits up with a sigh and Zayn has an amused expression on as he tosses Louis’ pillow up in the air only to catch it again.

“Harry overdoes first dates. So my only advice is wear nice shoes,” Zayn offers and Louis flips him off as he slides off his bed, slipping to the floor slowly. He groans again before crawling over to his bags.

He’s being a bit melodramatic but he has less than ten minutes to make himself presentable and he’s allowed to be dramatic when he wants.

He sifts through before he finds a pair of skinny jeans which he knows makes his arse look good and baggy sweatshirt that he thinks he stole from someone. It’s comfy though so he doesn’t think twice about grabbing both articles of clothing and trudging out of the room to the shared bathroom.

Thankfully there seems to be only one other person there but they’re heaving into a toilet and Louis clucks sympathetically before going into a stall himself to change.

He’s back to his room in five minutes where he just manages to grab his key and slip on some shoes (and if they’re his nicest pair of Vans, that’s his business) before running back out. He doesn’t miss the look Zayn gives him, as if he finds this whole ordeal entertaining.

Louis thinks back to the advice Zayn gave him about not letting Harry eat him but he shrugs it off, taking two steps at a time as he rushes to get outside.

When he gets there, he’s met with a disappointingly empty sidewalk. He wonders if maybe Zayn looked amused because he knew Harry wouldn’t show up but those thoughts are cut off by someone clearing their throat behind him.

He turns around and Harry’s standing there, smiling. He’s wearing jeans that are ripped and some ratty band shirt. Louis notices his necklace for the first time then—it’s a paper plane hanging on top of the shirt that Harry is wearing and it has a blue stone engraved into it.

He studies it for a second before moving his eyes back up to Harry’s face which is still bright and earnest. “Hi Louis,” Harry murmurs and his voice is slow, like he’s giving importance to every single word.

“Hi,” Louis says back dumbly and he nearly hits himself in the face but refrains. Instead he tries—and finds it incredibly easy to smile at Harry.

Harry who holds his hand out then, fingers splayed. “Care to join me?”

Louis doesn’t hesitate to slip his fingers through Harry’s. He thinks that maybe he should have but he doesn’t worry about it because he’s too busy staring at their joined hands. Harry’s hand is much larger, almost engulfing his entirely. But they fit together nicely and Louis has to bite his lip to keep his smiling from growing.

He doesn’t know where they’re going but he follows Harry anyways until they get to a small coffee shop. When they walk in, everyone is quiet. They’re all staring at Harry but the curly haired boy doesn’t seem to notice as he walks towards the counter, still hand in hand with Louis.

Louis does notice though and he glares back at anyone staring until they avert their gaze. He sort of wants to yell at them because Harry hasn’t done anything to warrant that sort of behavior from them and if Harry’s not going to defend himself, Louis might as well.

He doesn’t yell though. Instead he turns to Harry who’s pursing his lips as he stares at the menu above their heads.

“Is this our date?” Louis asks quietly and Harry looks over at him, eyes bright.

“It’s the first part,” Harry answers, before turning to the barista. It’s a boy with unruly brown hair and a name tag that reads _George_. “I’ll just have some tea please. Two spoons of sugar and a bit of milk. Louis?”

The curly haired boy turns to Louis who blinks before he realizes Harry’s asking him for his order. “The same with no sugar.”

George nods at them and he gives Louis a certain look as he’s turning to make their orders. It isn’t necessarily bad or a mean look but it makes Louis’ skin crawl all the same. It’s as if this George person is genuinely curious as to what makes Louis so special and why Harry would be on a date with Louis of all people.

Louis looks down and tries not to think about it because he doesn’t want to get nervous—not over something as silly as a first date.

“Thank you,” Harry says and Louis looks up to see him paying George and grabbing their drinks with the one hand that he has free.

Louis is a bit confused how the curly haired boy manages to carry both drinks in one hand but then a different thought enters his mind.

He halts from where Harry is already tugging them towards the exit. “Harry, wait, I asked _you_ out. I’m supposed to pay!” Louis protests mildly and Harry just winks, completely ignoring Louis’ outburst.

“ _Harry_ ,” Louis complains but the boy is still leading them out of the coffee shop and Louis scowls as he follows after him. He doesn’t let go of Harry’s hand though. Harry’s grip is firm and his hands are soft. He’s not warm but it’s comfortable.

“That’s my name,” Harry agrees before handing Louis his drink.

Louis takes it with a pout and that seems to make Harry smile. He has a pretty smile. It’s wide across his face and it’s sweet. His dimples seem etched into his skin and Louis wants to poke at one.

He refuses to believe that Harry is the guy Stan described because—he’s so—he’s just really fucking _lovely_. Also, he’s the most beautiful person Louis has ever seen.

He looks even better during the day if that’s even possible. Louis looks down at Harry’s arm then, inspecting the tattoos he didn’t have the chance to earlier.

Louis has no idea where Harry is taking them but he follows anyways, taking tiny sips of his coffee and examining Harry’s arm when he thinks the other boy isn’t looking.

There’s a rose that trails down his arm, over the side of his elbow and there’s three matching pins a bit above that and then up closer to his shoulder the words ‘ _can I stay?’_ are inked. There’s two hands shaking to the left of it and to the right there’s a large black heart. Over them it says, _NY_ and _LA_ and Louis wonders if Harry’s ever been to those places. Thinks about how he’d love to go himself. There’s a _LON_ there too but Louis thinks he knows what that one means.

Even if he tried to figure out the meaning behind each of them, he really doubts he’d get them right. He sort of wants to sit Harry down and make the curly haired boy explain all his tattoos to him but maybe that’s for another day.

He doesn’t think Harry’s the type to get tattoos for no reason and it seems that there’s such a story behind this boy and Louis wants to read him back and forth until he has every single word memorized.

When he looks up, Harry’s staring at him curiously and Louis flushes. “You’ve got a lot of tattoos.”

Harry nods and Louis doesn’t see the tattoo on the back of his neck that he thought he saw last night. It’s clear he had a bit too much to drink.

“Yeah. Lost count of them,” Harry murmurs, examining them briefly before his eyes flick back up to Louis. “Have you got any?”

Louis nods, turning the arm that Harry’s holding over and rolling his sleeve up to his elbow. He shows Harry the tiny stick figure on a skateboard. “Just the one.”

Harry glances it over and Louis watches as a slow smile appears on the boy’s face. Louis notices that he smiles a lot.

“Not as many as you though,” Louis adds after a second and he takes a blithe sip of his tea, nearly burning his tongue.

Harry giggles and Louis melts to a puddle—and no, it’s official, there is no _way_ he’s a slag. Louis refuses to believe that’s even possible—it’s an absolute no.

“No, I think the only person who might have as many as me is Zayn.” Then Harry tugs on Louis’ hand to signal that they’re crossing the road. Louis looks around and he thinks they might actually be off campus at this point.

“That’s crazy, mate,” Louis murmurs when he turns to look back at Harry.

“Just a bit, yeah.”

They’re making another turn and Louis finds himself falling in love with everything that they see. He ends up staring in awe as he tries to take everything and while the scenery all keeps changing, one thing remains constant—Harry’s hand stays steady in his.

It seems that with every sip of his tea that Harry takes, his hand gets warmer. Louis’ own tea is half done and he takes another drink as they cross the street.

He has no idea where Harry is taking them but it feels like a secret adventure. As if they’re sneaking around and Louis thinks that’s partially because he still hasn’t answered the text from Stan that says _are u doing anything 2day_ from hours before.

It’s really nice though, albeit the fact he’s ignoring his best friend. He likes that they’re doing this and that Harry’s taking him around the city without meaning to and that they’re having an actual first date and that Harry has this all planned out.

But he thinks back to how the barista George looked at him earlier and he gets a bad taste in his mouth. He drowns it out with tea before he decides to ask the question on his mind. “Why did you agree?”

Harry is clearly distracted by trying to find wherever they’re going but when Louis asks, he turns towards him with a confused expression. “Huh?”

“To going on a date with me,” Louis explains then he shrugs. “My best friend says you don’t date.” He tries to take another drink from his cup but there’s none left and it’s a bit disappointing when he has to drop it in a trashcan that they’re passing.

Harry tosses his too before he answers. “A lot of people say a lot about me.” There’s a short pause before he continues. “But I’m here, aren’t I?”

“Yeah,” Louis admits and he tries not to think of the way butterflies are exploding in his stomach. He swears he wasn’t this easily swooned by a few simple words the last twenty one years of his life. “But, why me?”

Harry’s grasp slackens for a moment. “You’re different. You’re not scared of me,” Harry says quietly while they’re turning into a nearly empty street.

“Are you saying I should be?” Louis wonders.

It’s not as if it doesn’t occur to him that they’re in a nearly deserted area of London now and that he doesn’t know Harry at all. That this could all be a lot more dangerous than Stan let on but somehow, it doesn’t matter to him. He doesn’t feel scared—he’d even go as far as saying he feels safe with Harry which is ridiculous because it hasn’t been a full day.

“I’m saying it would be best for you if you were. But you’re not. Whether that makes you stupid or reckless is beyond me. I’ll take what I can get though.”

Harry’s pace slows and then they’re practically strolling down the street and Louis is sort of in love with the way Harry holds his hand and the way Harry smiles at him. It’s only been an hour.

“You lost me,” Louis confesses just as Harry comes to a stop outside a door that looks like it’s been abused repeatedly for the last ten years. Harry looks at it like it’s something amazing though and Louis guesses that they’re at the second part of their date.

“That was the plan,” Harry tells him, winking and Louis can’t help but snort because Harry seems a lot more suave at first sight then second. He’s a lot cuter now and a lot less intimidating.

“You’re a bit ridiculous, did you know that?” Louis mutters under his breath and Harry just grins before he pushes open the door.

Louis is greeted by a sudden shock of loud voices matched with loud music and he has to blink a few times before he can take in his surroundings. They’re at a bowling alley and there’s little kids running around, parents sitting around laughing, teenagers shrieking in protest while are bright strobe lights flicker on and off.

He dropped Harry’s hand when they entered and when he finally turns to look at the curly haired boy, Harry is standing there laughing at Louis’ face.

Next to him is a purple haired woman who’s hiding her face in what seems to be dismay. “I swear, Styles, I know I told you not to bring food into my-” The woman starts to scold but Harry’s eyes widen and he nudges her before she can finish.

She looks over at him with a flat expression before her face softens and she glances over at Louis before turning back to Harry. “Is he not?”

Harry shakes his head fiercely and Louis is confused and amazed but lately, when is he _not_.

“Oh,” The woman says blankly before her mouth falls open. “Is—are you—does he—um. Are you here to bowl? Or something else?” She asks and she’s looking at Louis more calculatedly now, much like Zayn did the day before.

“Just here to bowl, Lou,” Harry says before leaning in to whisper something in her ear.

Louis fidgets quietly, unsure what to do. He decides to observe the bowling alley and at first sight, while it does seem like it’s the inside of a rubbish bin, Louis realizes that it’s designed to look that way.

He glances back at Harry and the woman who looks shocked now, eyebrows raised and she’s really examining Louis as if he’s some sort of oddity that happened to stumble into her bowling alley. Which isn’t really wrong when Louis considers it but it’s alarming all the same.

Harry pulls away from her ear and that’s when she brings her hands together in a clap, a smile blooming on her face. “Well alright then. Hello love, I’m Lou Teasdale. Welcome to Atkin’s Bowling Plaza. If you want any help at all, ask me but I’m sure Harry knows his way around. Oh, and if you find a baby crawling around, please do me a favor and bring her to the front.”

“I’ll be sure to,” Louis agrees, his voice raising towards the end so it comes out like a question. Harry rolls his eyes behind Lou and as if she sees it, she reaches back and hits him on the chest. Harry makes an ‘oomph’ sound and knocks back into a pillar and falls with a loud thud.

Lou doesn’t look affected at all, still smiling at Louis as Harry looks up at them from the floor, rubbing the top of his head while pouting.

Louis hesitates before walking past Lou and offering Harry a hand to pull himself up.

Once Harry’s standing, he pulls Louis back towards a counter and it actually is quite a lot to take in but he’s not even focusing on anything except for the way Harry’s grinning as they reach a man covered in tattoos.

“Oi, Styles, haven’t you seen you around in a while. Lux’s been missing you,” The man says, raising an eyebrow as he wipes down the counter with a rag and Louis has a fleeting thought wondering who the man’s talking about.

“Not nearly as much as I’ve missed her, I’m sure,” Harry replies with a grin, dimples popping out before he turns towards Louis. “Lux is their three year old daughter,” Harry explains, hitching a thumb back towards Lou who is greeting someone else at the door.

Louis just nods dumbly and tries not to think of Harry playing with children because he’s sure that he’s going to lose his mind. He’s not sure when he turned into such a teenage girl but he thinks it has a lot more to do with Harry than it does with him.

Harry turns back to the counter, glancing behind the man and Louis realizes that it’s where all the bowling shoes are. He looks down at his own pair of Vans before looking back up.

“Tom, give me my usual. Don’t think my feet have grown recently,” Harry tells him and he gives the man a secret smile that Louis doesn’t understand but clearly Tom does because he chuckles before bending down to get a pair of shoes from underneath the counter.

“Thanks for sharing Harry,” Tom mutters as he hands off the pair to Harry before the man turns his gaze to Louis. “Will you be bowling with this idiot or are you just here as his snack?”

Louis blinks in confusion, turning to Harry because he’s not sure what the right answer is. The curly haired boy looks appalled by Tom’s suggestion and the tattooed man falters from where he’s reaching for another pair of shoes.

His eyes flicker between Harry and Louis for a few seconds before he straightens back up with a new pair of shoes. “Well, that answers that question. Have a good time,” Tom says, his eyebrow still raised and all Louis wants to know is how the man knew his shoe size.

He also wants to know why everyone keeps referring to him as if he’s some type of meal. He’s pretty sure he’s human and also that Harry’s not a maneater.

“Thanks,” Louis says flatly before grabbing the shoes on the counter and looking pointedly towards Harry who, of course, giggles. “Care to lead the way or will I have to do that myself?”

“I can manage it, I think,” Harry replies, fingers hooking on the insides of his own shoes before he starts down the alley, towards where most of the teenagers are.

When they get to an empty lane, Louis sits down in one of the chairs and begins untying his Vans and watches Harry do the same with his own boots. If Louis squints, he swears they have glitter on them. He’s not surprised.

When he manages to slip off one of his shoes, he hears the girls in the next lane over whispering and he can feel their stares boring into his back.

“Jess, is that really him?” A blonde girl wonders and if her voice is meant to be a whisper, she’s not doing a really good job of it.

A black haired girl next to her is a bit quieter, but not by much. “Think so but why would he be at the bowling alley? He’s not with Niall or any of the others, Jordan,” The girl says and Louis nearly turns to glare because he’s almost positive they’re talking about him.

The dark haired girl whose turn it was to bowl moves next to them, peering over at Louis. “Who the hell is that?” She asks and her voice is the loudest so far.

“If we knew, Tina, maybe we wouldn’t be so confused,” The girl named Jordan replies and Louis can hear her rolling her eyes. He wants to roll his own eyes and he also wants to throw the shoe in his hand at them but he refrains, instead rolling up his other sleeve so they’re both up to his elbows.

He slips off his other shoe and he can still feel their eyes on him. When he glances over at Harry, the boy is gone with only his glitter shoes lying abandoned on the floor.

Louis only startles from staring when the girls start talking again. “Then why do you care?” Tina wonders, frowning and Jess sighs from where she’s ducking behind Jordan.

“He’s here with Styles,” She says and Tina’s frowning face turns into one of incredulity.

“Harry Styles?”

“Is there any other Styles?” Jordan retorts, rolling her eyes at Tina who huffs back, crossing her arms.

Louis finally turns to them, glaring. “Is there something I can help you with?” He snaps and Tina shakes her head quickly, grabbing the arm of a girl Louis doesn’t know the name of.

“Elizabeth just wanted to know if you had a spare bowling ball is all,” Tina declares, shoving the girl forward and she looks at him with a bored expression.

“I didn’t ask for anything actually, but all the same, do you have a spare bowling ball?” She wonders, voice dry.

Louis feels an ounce of sympathy for the girl before he gestures widely to their bowling alley. “Take anything you want,” He offers, picking up his shoes and walking over to where Harry’s shoes are. He picks those up too and the one named Jordan opens her mouth when he turns around.

Louis doesn’t stick around to find out what she or they have to say as he walks towards the opposite end of the bowling alley, shoes in tow.

He finds Harry sifting through a bunch of bowling balls in the back of the alley and they’re all pink, differing in shades. Louis feels his lips curl up at the corners before he walks closer in attempt to sneak up on the younger boy but right before he manages to, Harry murmurs, “You’re not stealthy, love.”

Louis pouts and Harry turns around, holding a bright pink bowling ball in his right hand. He’s smiling fondly though and Louis feels his own face flush but despite this, he holds his ground.

“Can we get a different lane?” Louis requests before Harry can start to walk towards their old one. The curly haired boy falters, tilting his head.

“Did something happen while I was gone?” Harry asks and his voice is lower now, his eyes flashing dangerously towards where they’d previously settled down.

“Just some girls being too loud,” and it’s not as if he’s _lying_ necessarily. He’s a firm believer in the fact that omitting the truth isn’t lying.

Harry frowns for the first time that day, eyes drawn tighter than before. “I shouldn’t have left you alone,” He mutters, ducking his head and Louis feels a surge of affection for this boy.

“Don’t be silly,” Louis insists before shrugging his shoulder. “I can take care of myself,” He adds on and Harry looks up again, eyes softer.

“I’m sure you can,” Harry agrees quietly before he looks off to the opposite end of the bowling alley. “C’mon, I know just the spot,” He says and Louis doesn’t hesitate to follow him, his feet sliding on the ground as he's not wearing shoes.

They end up in a cozier section of the bowling alley and on either side of them are two families, both with kids under the age of ten. Louis thanks anyone who’s listening for that fact.

Harry puts his ball down, fiddling with the touch screen set up in front of a table. Louis takes a seat on one of the couches and it’s comfier than he expected it to be.

He watches Harry type in a few things before it asks for the players’ names. Louis sits up straighter, putting on his bowling shoes and stretching to see what the taller boy is putting in as their names but he doesn’t put anything in.

Louis waits for Harry to do something which he finally does when he turns around and beckons towards the screen while picking up his own bowling shoes and putting them on.

“Put me in as Tommo,” Louis suggests and Harry goes to do just that, typing the letters into the system. It was mostly an excuse to watch Harry’s fingers a little longer but like hell he’s going to fess up to that.

“Tommo. I like it,” Harry murmurs thoughtfully, pressing enter on Player 1’s name before moving along to Player 2 and putting in Styles.

“Yeah? What else do you like?” Louis wonders, pushing himself off the seat to go choose from the bowling balls on their lane in attempt to seem indifferent to the question.

Harry chuckles from behind him before the taller boy walks over, plucking out a blue ball easily and handing it to Louis. “Matches the color of your eyes,” Harry explains when Louis looks over curiously and he can’t really help it when his lips turn up on their own accord.

He opens his mouth to say thanks when Harry cuts him off. “I like candlelit dinners, long walks on the beach, puppies and hot chocolate. Are you in love with me yet?”

It takes Louis a moment to realize he’s being teased and another moment before letting out a sharp laugh in response. “I’m positively swooning,” Louis promises, placing his fingers in the correct holes of the bowling ball.

He walks over to the actual lane, testing the weight of the ball in his hands. “I suck at this by the way. Just thought I’d mention,” Louis calls to Harry who does nothing but laugh in response. He has a nice laugh though. Louis wouldn’t mind listening to it for the rest of the day.

“I’m being serious,” Louis warns, glancing back to see Harry’s grinning at him.

“Give it a go, I promise not to laugh,” Harry encourages, beckoning towards the bowling lane with his free hand. His other hand is occupied with the pink bowling ball from earlier.

Louis rolls his eyes and turns back to the lane in front of him to his smile. Despite this, he still knows he really is bad at bowling and it’ll be amazing if he can manage to knock down one pin.

Give him a football and he’ll run in circles around you but giving him a ten pound piece of plastic that he has to throw down a lane is like asking him to fly (and trust him, he’s been there and done that—he was eight and it’s still amazing to this day that he only got a broken arm out of the whole ordeal).

Louis shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath before swinging his arm back and letting go of the ball. When he opens his eyes it’s to track the ball with them and he can’t help but hope that he’ll knock down some of the pins and not completely embarrass himself.

It’s clear luck isn’t on his side because just as the ball goes to hit one of the pins, it ends up sliding to right and falling straight into the gutter.

Louis throws up his arms in a dramatic gesture. “Why does this always happen to me?” Louis complains, looking back at Harry who’s smirking.

“’S not that bad,” Harry reasons and Louis glares. He doesn’t bother to reply, going over to get his ball from where the machine spit it back out.

He goes back to the lane, his mouth set in a determined line. Louis swings his arm back, eyes squinted before he lets it go and watches the bowling ball hurtle towards the pin. It goes off tangent again, knocking into two of the pins before sadly falling into the gutter for the second time

“This game is stupid,” Louis mutters, pointedly not looking at the score before plopping down in the seat next to Harry with his arms crossed. Harry smiles at and Louis just huffs. He hears Harry laugh as the taller boy stands up, cracking his back.

“Gross,” Louis groans halfheartedly and Harry, honest to God, sticks his tongue out petulantly before strolling over to the lane.

Louis watches as he takes a few seconds pause before his arm swings back and the pink ball rolls down the bowling lane. He can only stare in disbelief as it hits dead center, knocking down all the pins.

“Of course. He’s pretty and he can hit a strike on his first try,” Louis grumbles under his breath, not intending for the curly haired boy to hear but the short, startled laughter that escapes Harry’s pink lips means he clearly did.

Louis glares at Harry’s back for a few seconds before standing up and shouldering his way past Harry to get his ball from the machine.

Harry just sits down, crossing his legs over one another and grinning. Louis thinks it would be more fun to sit in his lap than actually bowl but his mother didn’t raise a quitter so he grabs the ball and goes to the front of the lane.

He’s lining up to swing when there are fingers brushing against his arm, stopping him. Louis freezes before he realizes that it’s Harry, whose cold hands are reaching down to press against his.

“You’re holding it all wrong,” Harry scolds, lips brushing against his ear and Louis has to stop himself from shivering at the touch.

He can feel Harry’s lean body pressing against his and when Harry uses his body to maneuver Louis’ own, he goes easily. He lets Harry turn him the way he pleases and then Harry’s pulling his hand back, adjusting it how he wants.

Louis doesn’t say it but he thinks they kind of fit together.

“Now let go,” Harry murmurs, giving Louis’ hand a gentle push and he does. He’s so busy reveling in the feeling of Harry so close that when he hears the ball hit the pins, he nearly jumps.

He focuses in time to see all the pins fall over and his mouth falls open in disbelief. “No way.”

Harry just laughs in Louis’ ear, pulling away and Louis instantly misses the feeling of Harry against him. When he turns to Harry, the boy is holding his pink ball and he’s smiling so big that Louis can see his dimples.

The next hour goes the same way, with Harry’s laughter like music in his ears and his smiles at every turn. Louis is more besotted than he has any right to be and he thinks there might be literal hearts shooting from his eyes by the time they get to the tenth frame, he’s actually winning.

It’s mostly because during each of his turns, Harry always finds a way to insure a strike even when Louis is skeptical. The time Harry insisted he did it backwards is still fresh in his mind and even that was a strike.

Also, it would seem the curly haired boy was purposely losing with his sly grins as he hit only nine of the ten bowling pins each time.

But then, when Harry goes up for his next turn, Louis feels a pair of hands resting on his ankle. He looks down in surprise to see a girl that can’t be older than three sitting next to his feet, watching Harry bowl.

“And who are you?” Louis questions softly, reaching down to pick up the girl who stiffens in his arms. He pulls her up into his lap and she stares at him with wide eyes. “Are you lost?”

She gives him an appraising look over before her tiny fists grab one of his arms. “No,” She says, inspecting his arm and he laughs.

“Are you sure about tha-“ He goes to ask but then she’s lifting his arm to her mouth and biting down. Louis immediately flinches, tugging on the girl because her teeth _hurt_ and he’s pretty sure she’s about to start drawing blood.

She doesn’t let up though and he gasps when the skin on his arm breaks but then seconds later, she’s being pulled away and Harry’s standing there giving the girl a disapproving look.

Louis looks down at his arm to size up the damage and there’s a tiny set of bite marks. He can see blood where the girl’s teeth dug in too deep and he frowns.

When he goes to look up at Harry, he’s standing several feet away with his back turned and the girl held in his arms. Louis slowly gets to his feet and starts to walk over but halts when he sees a reflection of Harry’s face on the bowling balls in front of him.

The image is distorted but it looks like Harry’s bleeding out of his eyes, dark veins running beneath them. His mouth is open and are those—are those _fangs_?

He falters momentarily before he reaches for Harry’s shoulder hesitantly. “Hey, Harry?” He calls softly and the boy immediately freezes and Louis swears he hears a hiss as the boy shakes Louis’ hand off his shoulder, turning away from the bowling balls.

“Harry?” Louis tries again, worry seeping into his voice and this time he hears Harry take a deep breath before he turns back to face Louis, bouncing the little girl in his arms.

Louis blinks in confusion because Harry’s face looks exactly as it did earlier and there are no veins and or sharp teeth in sight. The boy is giving him a tight lipped smile and Louis takes a step back because clearly he’s letting the bite on his arm get to his head if he’s seeing weird hallucinations in bowling balls.

“I’m sorry, Lux is usually well behaved,” Harry apologizes, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he gives the little girl an uncertain look. Louis makes a face of understanding as he remembers this is the owners’ daughter.

“I’m okay, it’s just a little bit of blood,” Louis assures, holding up his arm as proof and Harry flinches back. Louis widens his eyes, staring between his arm and Harry. “Are _you_ okay?”

Harry laughs this nervous little titter that does nothing to reassure Louis at all. “I’m not the one who got bit,” is what Harry replies before he looks back down at Lux who’s staring in between them with a confused expression. “I’m going to go give her to her parents. I’ll grab some paper towels on my way back,” Harry adds on, an uneasy expression on his face before he turns to leave and Louis can just watch him go in bemusement.

He looks back down at his arm and winches. He runs his fingers along the bite mark despite the blood that begins to coat his fingers when he does. He didn’t even know it was possible for a child to bite someone that hard—none of his little sisters ever had.

On the other hand, Louis is a bit sad because their date was going so well and then some cute looking demon child bit him. He frowns just as Harry comes back with a handful paper towels, looking less unhinged now that Lux was gone.

Louis watches his lips turn down at the corners as he inches closer and sees the bite mark. “Here,” Harry says, handing him one of the paper towels which Louis takes gratefully.

He’s too busy dabbing at his arm to notice the way Harry looks like a kicked puppy until the boy finally speaks up. “I’m sorry for ruining our date,” Harry apologizes, eyes sad and Louis snaps his head up immediately.

“What are you talking about?” Louis wonders, scrunching up his nose before letting out a low noise of pain as he dabs too roughly on accident.

Harry’s eyes look even sadder than before motioning towards Louis’ arm.

Louis looks at his own arm before looking over at Harry. “You think a little bite is going to scare me away, Styles? You’ll have to try harder than that,” Louis teases because that’s what he does when situations get too heavy and he’s already having withdrawal from Harry’s smile.

It works because Harry’s face brightens considerably and it’s this hopeful face that Louis has no intentions of letting down. “Really?”

“Yeah, I’m a tough little boy,” Louis promises, flexing the arm without the bite mark and this time Harry smiles, eyes shining,

“I don’t doubt that,” Harry says quietly before holding out his other hand and Louis sees a large bandage in his palm. Harry shrugs, licking his lips uncertainly. “I figured you’d need one.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” Louis compliments with a wink and this time Harry lets out short laugh which he tries to hide by covering his mouth.

He reaches over to take the bandage and Harry’s palm is cool against his fingers. He thinks about taking his hand but he decides he can do that later.

Instead, he rips off the bandage wrapper before taking care to put it properly over the bite and Harry watches him from a distance. When he finishes, he gives it a soft pat before looking over at Harry with a grin. “All patched up.”

“I see that.”

There’s a brief moment of silence before Harry gestures weakly to the bowling lane and asks, “Do you still want to play or are you okay with leaving?”

Louis pretends to think about it for a second before he gasps dramatically, pointing an accusing finger at Harry. “You just don’t want to lose!”

Harry looks mystified at this before he realizes Louis is joking and rolls his eyes. Louis can’t help how big his smile gets or the fact that his eyes start crinkling. “I’m actually quite alright with leaving, if that’s okay with you,” Louis admits, shrugging.

His arm doesn’t hurt as much anymore but he doubts even with Harry’s help that he could keep playing and getting strikes, or even spares for that matter.

“Wouldn’t have offered if it wasn't. C’mon,” Harry says and then hesitates briefly before holding his empty hand out. Louis readily slips his hand into the taller boy’s for the second time that day.

“Where next?” Louis asks and the look Harry sends him is anything but reassuring.

“You’ll see,” Harry says with a smirk as they leave the bowling alley, with the curly haired boy stopping briefly to wave at Tom and Lou who are quietly discussing something behind the counter. They both look up with matching looks of anxiety before waving back.

It’s really none of Louis’ business but he can’t help but feel the look has to do with him and Harry. He feels an uncomfortable chill go down his spine and he turns back to Harry.

“That’s not an answer,” Louis accuses, watching as Harry pulls out his phone, his fingers flying across the screen. Louis thinks he needs some coffee because his brain is too slow for the way Harry’s fingers seem to be blurring together.

Louis isn’t prepared for when a car pulls up, the windows rolled down. He’s even more unprepared for the fact that it’s one of the boys from the night before, the one with brown hair.

Harry briefly lets go of Louis’ hand and walks over to the car. Louis watches with curiosity as Harry bends down to say something quietly to the boy who looks alarmed and shakes his head.

Harry says something else and the boy’s mouth falls open before his gaze flickers to Louis then back before Louis can do anything about it, like wave awkwardly.

Harry shakes his own head before forcefully saying something else and the boy hesitates before nodding. Then he’s speeding off just as Harry steps back from the car.

“What was that?” Louis calls from behind him and Harry turns with a gleam in his eyes.

“You ask too many questions,” Harry replies whimsically, reaching out for Louis’ hand again and intertwining their fingers. “You’re warm,” He says after a moment, eyes wide with wonder.

“And you’re changing the subject. Where are we going?” Louis pouts and Harry’s lips drift down to his lips before snapping back to his eyes. Louis doesn’t dare let himself hope that the curly haired boy was thinking about kissing him.

“To get lunch and then you’re going back to your room because you mister, are hurt,” Harry tells him, tapping his nose and Louis goes cross eyed trying to watch.

Harry giggles, leaning forward accidentally and brushing their noses together in an eskimo kiss. Louis stays still, watching Harry with a challenging look and Harry, the asshole, just laughs before leaning back.

“Not that easy, love,” Harry says, tugging their joined hands and Louis is helpless but to follow.

Before Louis knows it, their date is coming to an end and they’re walking up to the front of the building of his dorm. It feels weird now, knowing that there’s so much out there to see and when he was with Harry he felt like he was in an entirely different universe.One where he could lie on the grass for hours and count the stars or ride a swing as high as it could go. Harry was like a rush and Louis was on his way to becoming an adrenaline junkie.

And fuck, Louis loves it. He loves the feeling of exhilaration Harry brings, even when they’re doing something like just plainly _walking_. Harry’s an adventure and Louis wants to explore him.

Harry’s still holding his hand as they come to a stop in front of the double doors and Louis doesn’t even think before he blurts, “Thank you.”

Harry turns to him with a surprised expression. “For what?” He asks, tilting his head to look down at Louis curiously.

Louis flushes, feeling small under Harry’s gaze and he rubs the back of his neck nervously before answering, “I don’t know.” There’s a pause where he shrugs. “For going out with me, I guess. Just being you.”

Harry looks even more surprised at that. “You’re thanking me for being me?” Harry repeats, tacking a question mark onto the end and Louis isn’t shy—he’s far from it but in answer he does nothing but duck his head and give Harry a small smile that could definitely pass for bashful.

“Yeah, I am,” Louis agrees. “For being you and not who others expect you to be.” Another shrug. “You’re kind of wonderful, you know that?”

Harry’s smiling now too with dimples and everything and Louis swears he’s never seen someone so alarmingly beautiful in his entire life.

“Not so bad yourself, Louis,” Harry replies before he lifts Louis’ hand to his mouth and brushes his lips across Louis’ knuckles. Harry’s lips are incredibly soft and Louis wants to touch but he doesn’t do anything besides try to keep his smile from growing too wide and contain the fluttering in his stomach.

“You’re on a whole new level of charming,” Louis whispers and Harry just presses one last soft kiss on the back of his hand before dropping it completely.

“I’ll be seeing you,” Harry says and it sounds like a promise just as he starts to walk away.

Louis says nothing and just watches Harry’s back disappearing around the corner. He knows he’s smiling stupidly after him but he doesn’t think he’s ever been on such a lovely date with such a lovely boy.

He’s about to push open one of the double doors when someone yelling his name makes him fall short. “Louis! Louis! Lou, wait up!”

Louis flinches when he recognizes the voice as Stan’s. He turns slowly and gives him an apologetic smile. “Stan,” Louis greets as his best friend jogs his way over.

“You haven’t answered any of my texts! What’s up?” Stan wonders, coming to a full stop in front of him and Louis gives him a tight lipped smile because he isn’t sure what to say that wouldn’t be a lie.

“I was just out. Seeing things. Nothing major,” Louis answers vaguely, digging his toe into the ground before frowning at himself because he remembers these are his nicest pair of shoes.

He also plans on throwing these at Zayn when he gets back because his advice didn’t even apply since Louis wasn’t even wearing his own shoes for over half the date.

“Out?” Stan repeats with furrowed eyebrows, pulling Louis from his thoughts. “With who?”

Louis shrugs and winces when the sleeve of his jumper rubs the wrong way against his bandage. He sees Stan’s gaze immediately drop to where he’s now holding cradling his injured arm and he scolds himself mentally.

The brown haired boy raises an eyebrow and gestures to Louis’ arm. “Are you hurt?”

Louis does a one shouldered shrug instead this time and Stan looks thoroughly unconvinced. When he reaches for Louis’ arm, he hastily pulls it back and shoves his hand in his pocket.

Stan narrows his eyes and reaches out for Louis’ arm again and he’s helpless but to let his best friend grab his wrist and pull up his sleeve.

“What the fuck is that?” Stan exclaims and Louis doesn’t answer him, biting his lip so hard he’s nearly drawing blood.

He has a feeling Stan wouldn’t be too happy with him for going on a date with Harry and he’s not really keen on putting his feeling to the test.

“Stan, it’s fine. I’ve had worse,” Louis reminds, tugging feebly on his arm but Stan’s grip doesn’t let up.

“What exactly is _it_? Did you get a bruise?” Stan presses on and Louis sighs before rolling his eyes. He doesn’t know why Stan is acting as if Louis’ a five year old but it’s slowly getting on his nerves.

“It’s nothing, just a bite mark.” Louis mutters off handedly but that’s clearly the wrong thing to say because Stan’s grip tightens on his wrist.

“A bite mark?” Stan echoes warily and the look in his eyes is one that Louis doesn’t fancy being on the receiving end of.

“Relax, mate. And let go, would you?” Louis insists, prying Stan’s fingers off of him and Stan lets go without much of a fight.

He rubs his wrist with a frown before meeting Stan’s eyes. “Don’t be such a worry wart,” Louis tells him, trying to tease but his best friend isn’t having any of it.

“Who were you with?” Stan demands and Louis takes a step back in surprise. He’s rarely on this end of things when Stan gets angry because it’s something he tries his best to avoid. He doesn’t understand why Stan’s getting all worked up over a little bite.

“Does it matter?” Louis replies in an attempt to diffuse to the situation but Stan just gives him a hard look. Louis swallows before muttering, “It’s not any of your friends.” This doesn’t appease Stan either because the shorter boy just levels him with a disapproving look this time.

“Who?”

“Stan, just drop it,” Louis pleads but Stan shakes his head forcefully, eyes guarded and mouth set into a thin line. Louis doesn’t like the look at all.

“Louis, you don’t know the things I know. You haven’t seen the things I have. Nothing is what it seems here and you hiding shit is going to put you in danger,” Stan tells him, eyes flashing and Louis scoffs.

“What danger? I’m not a child Stan, don’t treat me like one,” Louis snaps and his previously happy mood evaporates into the air.

All his life he’s been treated like a child and it makes him want to scream. He hates being talked down to as if he’s not capable of understanding the simplest concepts. He’s not stupid, no matter how his reputation precedes him.

He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself, despite people thinking he’s irresponsible and lacking common sense. He especially doesn’t appreciate his best friend talking down to him so sue him if he’s getting a bit upset.

“Well you’re certainly acting like one,” Stan points out and Louis glares, clenching his fists.

“Fine. You want to know that badly? I was with Harry Styles and fuck you if you have a problem with that,” Louis spits out before turning on his heel and slamming the door behind him as he enters his dorm building.

It’s only when he gets to the elevator that he lets out a breath of air he didn’t even know he was holding in. He feels the anger drain out of him as the doors open up to his floor.

When he’s walking to his room, his phone buzzes in his pocket and he hesitates a moment before taking it out and looking at it.

He unlocks the screen and there’s two texts. There’s one from Stan which he deletes without reading and then a text from Harry which he falters before clicking on.

_You thanked me earlier but I think maybe I should have been the one thanking you for not listening to what people say about me. So thank you, Louis, for being one of the most open minded and lovely people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet .xx_

The text settles the feeling of anxiety in the pit of his stomach and he knows he made the right choice earlier, even if it might lead to a bigger fight with Stan. He knows his friendship with Stan will take this fight and spit it right back out with daisies on top.

Plus, it’s over some ridiculous bandage so maybe once Louis stops feeling like he might strangle his best friend, he’ll text him.

Maybe.

He replies to Harry’s text with a happy looking emoji and a thumbs up. By that point, he’s at his door and when he manages to get his key out of his pocket, he pushes open the door.

Louis expects to see Zayn but instead the blond boy from last night is there and he’s standing on top of Zayn’s desk with a flat screen television in his hands.

He’s holding it like a toy and Louis gapes at him for a second.

The boy turns around then, grinning brightly over at Louis. “Hi, I’m Niall! Nice to meet you. Well, we’ve already met but nice to _formally_ meet you. I’d shake hands with you but they’re both currently occupied for which I apologize greatly. It sucks that we only have two hands, doesn’t it? If we were like monkeys then we could use our feet as hands and—“

“Niall, shut _up_ ,” A voice calls and Louis blinks in surprise. He’s still overwhelmed by how the blond boy talks a mile a minute that he nearly falls over when the wall slides open and Zayn steps out.

The wall closes behind him and the blond boy pouts. “That’s not fair, Z! Why can’t I be friends with him too? You and Harry shouldn’t get dibs!”

Zayn sighs, scrubbing a hand over his face tiredly like this is something Niall does all the time. Louis actually wouldn’t be surprised if it was. “Niall, no one has dibs. Louis is a _human being_ with feelings. He is not a _thing_ to place dibs on,” Zayn reminds gently and Niall’s pout grows.

Louis’ eyes shift between them in confusion because he’s not sure he understands what the hell is going on. His day is slowly but surely turning into a mess.

“Why am I the only one you lecture? You never do this to Liam or Harry!” Niall complains, letting go of the television with one hand and Louis nearly steps forward to make sure it doesn’t fall but Niall is still holding the flat screen easily.

Louis sneaks a quick glance at his own arms and thinks maybe he needs to start going to the gym more often. He looks back over at Niall and Zayn, the latter who’s rolling his eyes.

“Because we all know Harry would kick my arse before I gave him a lecture and Liam’s too busy giving me lectures on what’s acceptable in public and not,” Zayn reminds before he starts pouting himself. Jesus, how did Louis end up in a room full of pretty pouting people?

“Yeah, but I’m sure putting your dick into him is acceptable,” Niall mutters offhandedly before turning back to the television.

“Niall!” Zayn chastises and Niall shrugs. Louis is seriously beginning to worry for the flat screen at this point but he doesn’t speak up, too entertained by their argument that isn’t even an argument.

“It’s true!” Niall defends before sighing. “Fine, fine. I won’t bother the new guy _that_ much, okay?”

Louis does speak up then, waving one of his hands idly. “I’m right here,” He reminds and they both give him withering looks.

“We know,” They say at the same time before giving each other suspicious looks.

Louis’ eye catches on the fact that Zayn is rubbing the skin between his fingers of his left hand and when Louis blinks, he realizes that Zayn has a ring on. It has the same blue crystal that Harry’s necklace has, if Louis is seeing things correctly.

He looks back up at their faces and Niall is looking at Zayn’s ring finger too, albeit with a softer expression than Louis he is (mainly because he’s confused).

“I can’t believe you two are still in your honeymoon phase,” Niall mutters but his tone is fond now and Louis has to backtrack because that can’t possibly mean what he thinks it means.

Zayn’s only twenty, he’s younger than Louis. There’s no _way_ that he’s stupid enough to tie himself down and get _married_ —especially with a face like that.

But it would seem Louis is wrong because Zayn smiles down at his finger with the softest expression that Louis has seen on the younger boy thus far.

“You say that like it’s been a while,” Zayn says softly, twisting the ring idly now as he looks back up at Niall through his eyelashes which, Louis sadly notices, are longer than his.

“Pretty sure it’s been a while,” Niall scoffs but the blonde boy is grinning and he turns his attention back to the wall, where Louis watches as he starts to set the flat screen.

Louis is only half listening to their conversation—mostly because he doesn’t know the background of what they’re talking about so it does nothing but leave him lost.

“You can’t measure in time when you have forever,” Zayn murmurs, before pushing his hands against the desk and climbing up himself to help Niall.

“Okay, you’re starting to sound like Harry and it’s freaking me out,” Niall replies, fiddling with a wire and Louis perks up at the mention of the curly haired boy’s name.

Zayn notices because he starts smirking and he whispers something into Niall’s ear whose eyes widen in reply. He lets go off the wires completely and hops off the desk.

“So, you went on a date with Harry,” Niall starts and Louis takes a step back automatically—he doesn’t know why, but his body moves without his assent.

“Yeah,” Louis agrees slowly, biting on his bottom lip again. He can taste blood on his tongue and he cringes at the taste.

Niall takes his own step back then, arm reaching back to nudge Zayn’s leg. “You’re bleeding. Also, how was it?” He asks, leaning his back against the desk.

“It was… nice,” Louis settles on saying before turning his back on them to grab a tissue from a box he’d set out the previous day. He dabs at his lip and wonders why he keeps bleeding today.

“Nice?” Niall repeats, before furrowing his eyebrows. “Did you say nice?”

Louis gives him a weird look because he’d think Harry’s friends would know better than to think he’s a maneater of some sort. It’s an option Louis had completely ruled out but the look on Niall’s face gives him second doubts.

“Well, he was nice?” Louis tries and he flinches when Zayn hops down from the table as well. The flat screen looks like it was set up by a professional and clearly his roommate has some talents they need to discuss.

“Harry’s always nice,” Niall says with a snort and Zayn nods seriously next to him. “But the dates never are.”

“What happened to your arm?” Zayn asks, gesturing widely and Louis frowns, remembering his conversation with Stan.

He answers anyways. “I got bit,” Louis says and both of the other boys freeze with matching appalled looks. Louis blinks in surprise because he doesn’t think he’s said anything wrong.

“What do you mean you got bit?” Zayn demands in a flat tone and Niall is starting to look nervous. Louis gives him another weird look for that.

“I mean I got bit. You know? Teeth in the skin? Biting?” Louis makes a biting noise and that seems to shake Niall out of his reverie.

“And you _remember_?” Niall asks incredulously.

“Why wouldn’t I remember? Not likely to forget a three year-old chomping on my arm,” Louis answers, eyebrow raised.

Now that he’s thinking about it, his arm really is sore. He kind of wants to go to bed and not get up for the next week or so. It’s a plan he’s considering carrying out.

“Three year—oh, _oh_.” And then Niall promptly starts laughing. Zayn looks like he’s trying to fight a smile too but he doesn’t say anything. “Lux is a bit of a biter, isn’t she?”

Louis gives him a dirty look as he turns throw away the slightly bloody tissue in his hand.

When he turns around, Zayn is nudging Niall meaningfully and he has his leather jacket swung over his arm. Niall looks apologetic when he turns to Louis. “We have some place to be. But, toss me your phone and I’ll program all our numbers in there if you ever want to hang out, yeah?”

Then he smiles all brightly, eyes wide and his pupils seem to dilate. Louis has no idea what he’s doing as he reaches into his pocket and tosses Niall his phone.

“You’re not supposed to do that,” Zayn hisses, looking in Louis’ direction.

“Oh, he’ll be fine,” Niall mutters, typing into Louis’ phone with his thumbs flying across the screen. “Won’t you, Louis?”

Louis finds himself nodding despite the fact he has no idea what Niall is talking about. He feels dizzy and he’s not sure why.

“Niall, don’t push it,” Zayn advises before pinching the bridge of nose. “If Harry seriously likes him, he’ll be mad at us. And become paranoid. And then make a vervain bracelet or something. It’ll be like that time he tried knitting except this time it’ll be while he’s mad at us.”

The blond boy sighs at that, rolling his eyes good naturedly. “I suppose you’re right.”

“When am I not?”

“Don’t make me answer that question,” Niall says before turning back to Louis who has been watching the whole ordeal silently. His eyes dilate again. “Forget this happened. Go take a nap.”

Louis’ entire mind goes blank and all he feels is his legs moving until he finds his bed. He’s asleep before his head hits his pillow.

—

The next week is a whirlwind of preparing for classes and settling in. Louis has to do it alone because he’s actively avoiding Stan and he doesn’t know anyone else except for Harry and his group of friends.

And he’s not so lonely to the point that he’s going to ask _them_ to take him around campus. Not to mention, every time he so much as passes by someone, they give him this wide eyed stare like they can’t believe he’s a real person.

He hears whispers about how he was brave enough to go talk to Styles. Louis glowers at them because they say Harry’s name like it’s some sort of disease that will catch.

If he’s honest, he’s hoping they catch a few choice diseases themselves.

Despite the fact that the entire student population is made up of dumbasses, he likes the classes. He has meetings with a few of his teachers and he ends up liking most of them. They’re all witty and kind which Louis generally prefers in a person.

In the back of his mind, he’s filled with disbelief that he’s had more progress making friends with the teachers in the university than the actual students.

There’s Harry, of course.

Harry who texts him a few several times a day, usually something stupid and cute that will occasionally surprise a laugh out of him.

He likes what they have. It’s easy and uncomplicated.

With his whole roommate situation, he thinks they’ve made some progress. Zayn occasionally cracks a smile at Louis’ musings about how dumb everyone is and they watch America’s Next Top Model together sometimes.

At some point, Zayn must’ve set up the flat screen because he woke up from a nap one day and it was just there, waiting for use.

He sees Niall sometimes, the blond boy from their group, when he’s walking around campus. He seems to be a people person despite the rumors about him.

One time he’s in the library, checking it out, and he sees the last boy from the group, Liam. He doesn’t say hello but he observes from a distance for a while.

He notices that the brown haired boy has a ring on left hand similar to Zayn’s. He wonders if that means anything. He’s also noticed that Niall has a wristband with the same stone and he wonders if maybe they’re all in a cult.

It’s completely plausible but that makes him wonder why they picked such a pretty stone. Then he realizes his imagination is getting out of hand and he leaves the library after checking out a book for one of his classes.

Louis doesn’t see Harry around though and he doesn’t know why. He even sees Zayn brooding in a corner one day, lighting a cigarette with a match (which in itself is strange because why couldn’t he just use a lighter? But Louis doesn’t ask questions because the whole lot of them are weird).

His classes are all late afternoon so he sleeps in and usually when he wakes up, Zayn isn’t there. Louis was right before when he said the dark haired boy would barely be there because he’s only ever there a few hours before and after Louis’ classes end.

Louis doesn’t even think Zayn _sleeps_ in their dorm most nights.

The solitude is nice though, in the way that he gets his own privacy and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t try the code to the secret lair a few times.

It’s a week after classes start that he sees Harry.

He knows the curly haired boy isn’t avoiding him like he is Stan because the number of texts he gets from the boy increases per day. They text late into the night and Louis sometimes wakes up with a stupid smile on his face and Zayn smirking at him like he knows exactly who Louis was dreaming of.

On a Tuesday, he gets out of class and it’s raining outside. Louis decides he hates England and wants to move somewhere where it never rains like Sahara desert. It seems like a better option than the water that’s pouring on his head as he walks to his dorm.

He curses under his breath for forgetting an umbrella earlier that morning and pulls his coat tighter again his body.

It’s when he’s halfway there that Louis sees something in the corner of his eye. When he looks, there’s nothing there. He frowns but keeps walking.

Louis sees it again but from the other eye this time and he full on stops, squinting though the rain but there’s still nothing there.

He narrows his eyes before he continues walking, faster than before and in his mind, he argues it’s because he wants to get out of the rain as quick as possible. He doesn’t believe it himself.

At some point, he sees the same thing from the corner of his eye zip right past him and it’s gone before he can blink.

He’s so startled that it takes him a moment to realize it’s not raining anymore. Louis looks up in confusion only to realize he’s underneath a large umbrella. He turns to look at the person on his side and it’s Harry with a side of dimples.

“I’d offer you a ride because you’re getting wet, but I don’t have a car and you’re not a girl,” is the first thing that Harry says, eyes twinkling with mirth.

It takes Louis a second to catch up with what’s happening before he lets out a laugh. “Was that supposed to be an innuendo?”

Harry shrugs, licking his lips and Louis follows the motion absently. “It was good,” Harry defends and his free hand rests on Louis’ back, pushing him forward gently.

Louis realizes he stopped walking and shakes his head before he starts walking alongside Harry. The taller boy’s hand doesn’t move from his lower back.

“It was bad. Really bad,” Louis tells him, a smile pulling at his lips.

Harry pouts at that. “But I’m funny, Louis!”

Louis’ worries fade away then and he grins, reaching up to pinch one of Harry’s cheeks lightly. “Whatever you say, _love_ ,” Louis mocks, before laughing.

“See if I ever let you under my umbrella again,” Harry grumbles under his breath but his hand is a steady weight pressed again Louis. He feels warm where Harry’s pressing and it’s nice.

“Sorry, did I hurt your feelings, love?” Louis teases and Harry makes an affronted sound.

“I like the endearment love, is that so wrong?”

“No, it’s cute. Just like the rest of you,” Louis says, biting back a grin at the look Harry gets because of those words.

“Cute. Huh,” Harry mutters to himself before smiling over at Louis. “So where is a man like you going to in this weather?”

“Just planning on heading to the beach actually. Care to join me?” Louis asks dryly and Harry giggles because he’s an idiot that Louis happens to be very fond of.

“But I haven’t got my swim trunks,” Harry points out which Louis raises an eyebrow at that. He has half the mind to kiss Harry but he refuses to give into the cliché of kissing in the rain.

Louis bristles quietly before he shrugs. “Nudity isn’t a problem.”

Harry just smirks at that and doesn’t say anything else. He lets Louis lead the way, following after him while humming something under his breath which Louis actually recognizes.

It’s something Harry sent Louis a link to a few days ago and the fact he remembers something simple and irrelevant should send him a huge sign but he chooses to ignore it.

They get to Louis’ dorm and he sighs regretfully. “This is me,” Louis reminds, gesturing behind him and Harry’s smiling like he knows something Louis doesn’t.

“Okay,” Harry says before nodding towards the doors. “Am I going to have to open the door or will you?”

Louis falters before raising an eyebrow. “Are you coming in?”

Harry gives him look that belongs on the face of a fifteen year old girl and it reads _obviously_. “Well you didn’t think I was going to stand out here in the rain, did you? Plus, I’ve only seen your room through the window late at night when you’re sleeping.”

Louis isn’t impressed.

Harry seems to get that because he frowns. “Either I’m a really bad liar or you actually want me to be watching while you sleep. I’m not sure which is worse.”

“The first, Harry. Always the first,” Louis informs before stepping out from underneath the umbrella to push open one of the doors. He holds it open for Harry who smiles gratefully.

Louis likes when Harry smiles at him.

When they get to his floor and Louis is trying to find his key, Harry speaks up. “I lied by the way,” He admits and Louis looks up with a curious expression.

He gets the door unlocked and pushes it open first, stepping inside. “About what?”

“I _have_ been here before. Just not when you were in this school. It was Zayn and Niall’s dorm last year,” Harry says and Louis thinks a lot things suddenly make sense now before saying as much.

Harry smiles hesitantly as he steps aside, letting the curly haired boy through. Louis watches as he sets his umbrella down on the floor before making his way over to Louis’ side of the room.

Louis sits down on his bed, letting Harry make his way through the photographs he has pinned up. Two days ago, he got around to pinning up his concert tickets too and that’s the next thing he goes to.

Harry stops at one of them, reaching up brush his finger along the edge before looking over at Louis curiously. “The Script, Manchester, 2009?” He asks and Louis has never seen his eyes that bright.

“Yeah,” Louis answers, nodding slowly before crossing his ankles and leaning back on his arms. “Was a good concert.”

Harry grins, before ducking his head. “I know. I was there.”

Louis raises his eyebrows. “You’re lying, no way,” He says because fuck destiny, he could have met Harry _four_ years ago?

Harry just shakes his head while looking at the ticket in awe. “I thought we already established I was a bad liar,” He replies and Louis can’t help the smile on his face.

“Cheeky,” He mutters before shaking his head. “We were at the same concert?”

Harry’s smile keeps growing, even as he nods. “Apparently so.” There’s a pause where he looks over at Louis, biting on his bottom lip. “Do you believe in fate?”

Louis laughs quietly before saying, “I suppose I do, just a bit, yeah.”

That makes Harry slowly walk over to Louis’ bed before sitting next to him. “Do you think we were meant to meet?”

Louis gives Harry a sidelong look before shrugging and murmuring, “I think we wouldn’t be here right now if we weren’t, Harry.”

“I think you’re beautiful,” is what Harry replies and Louis lets out a sharp laugh in surprise.

“Are we talking about Harry Styles? I think he’s always wonderful,” Louis whispers in a conspiring voice and Harry giggles before rolling his eyes.

“You’re so dumb,” Harry whispers back fondly and Louis doesn’t know why but that’s all it takes for him to lean forward and kiss Harry.

He pulls away just as quickly but he can still feel Harry’s soft lips against his and it’s better than words can explain.

Harry is staring at him in wonder, lips parted and eyes glossy. Louis is pretty sure it isn’t normal to want to kiss someone again so soon after just kissing them but somehow, this stupidly cute boy in front of him is making him act more bizarre than usual.

“You kissed me,” Harry murmurs, gaze falling to Louis’ lips before back up to his eyes.

“Did I?” Louis teases and if his voice is a little breathless, Harry doesn’t comment on it. Instead, the younger boy just smiles serenely at him.

“Yeah, you did,” He answers before his eyes lock on Louis’. His pupils dilate as he murmurs, “Close your eyes.”

Louis does just that and he feels a cool hand against his jaw. He holds his breath in anticipation but nothing happens. He’s momentarily disappointed before Harry starts to trace Louis’ lips with his thumb.

“I want to kiss you,” Harry tells him, voice quiet and Louis can feel Harry’s warm breath against his face. It smells like hot chocolate and Louis wants to lick the taste out of Harry’s mouth.

“What's stopping you?” Louis wonders and he still doesn’t open his eyes. He wants to but he doesn’t think he can.

Harry sighs and his noses brushes against Louis’. “There’s a lot that should be stopping me,” He answers and Louis catches the slip.

“Should?” Louis tries hopefully and his answer is lips pressed against his own.

Harry’s lips are closed but Louis thinks that’s okay because he can lick the taste out of them another time. He doesn’t mind this—this soft press of lips and Harry’s fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.

Louis reaches one hand up to rest against Harry’s face but he starts a little when the skin beneath Harry’s eyes feels bumpy.

The kiss ends abruptly and he hears Harry get up. “Where are you going?” Louis asks and he can’t help the way his voice falls.

He can almost hear Harry’s hesitation before the boy leans down and presses one chaste kiss against Louis’ lips. “You’ll see me soon. Don't open your eyes until I’m gone,” Harry tells him and then there’s a rush of wind, followed by the door closing.

Louis blinks his eyes open to an empty room and he thinks it’s not the only thing that feels empty.

He doesn’t know what this thing he has with Harry is. He doesn’t know what he’s doing or what’s happening. Lately, he feels so lost but there’s some sadistic part of him that likes it. Likes that he’s lost because it means the adventure has only just begun.

He raises a hand to his lips and blinks like it’ll bring Harry back. It doesn’t.

Louis sighs and stands up, stretching before walking over to the concert ticket Harry had been looking at. He hopes that if fate is looking down at him right now, she’ll realize she did the right thing.

He’s about to get grab some food when he notices something on his desk. It’s a bracelet and it’s just a measly brown piece of string attached to a little pouch with an insignia. Louis picks it up carefully and when he looks at the desk, there’s no note attached.

It’s not heavy and Louis stares at it for a few brief seconds before deciding he’ll ask Zayn if it’s his or if maybe Harry left it.

In the meantime, he slips it on gingerly, testing the weight against his wrist and it’s comfortable enough that he decides to keep it on.

Later when Zayn walks in while Louis is doing some homework, he quickly slips it off before holding it up to the younger boy. “Is this yours?”

Zayn hums distractedly before looking over. Louis watches as he squints in confusion before walking over to Louis’ side of the room.

He carefully takes the bracelet from Louis’ fingers and lifts it up to look at it more closely. There’s a second where Louis swears that Zayn sniffs the thing before his eyes widen and he drops the bracelet into Louis’ open palm.

“I believe that’s for you,” is Zayn’s cryptic reply as he walks over to his own side of the room and collapses on his bed.

“Me?” Louis repeats, raising an eyebrow and Zayn chuckles in response.

“Was Harry by earlier?” Zayn asks instead while his laptop hums to life. Louis wonders what Zayn’s classes even _are_. He hasn’t had the nerve to ask but he’s sure he will one day.

Louis looks away from the laptop to look at Zayn’s face. “Yeah, why?”

Zayn laughs like the answer is the most obvious thing in the world and Louis shifts uncomfortably in response. “Who do you think got you the bracelet?” Zayn coos, before he starts typing and effectively brings an end to their conversation.

Louis looks back down at the bracelet in confusion and discreetly sniffs it himself. It smells a little like lemons which is strange. It actually happens to smell like Zayn’s morning tea a bit.

“Weird,” Louis mutters to himself before slipping the bracelet back on to his wrist. If it makes him feel a bit safer now too, he doesn’t know why.

When he goes to sleep that night, he can’t help but smile at the thought that Harry thought of him at some point in time and decided to get him something as meaningless as a small bracelet but at the same time it means so _much_ that Louis doesn’t think he can begin to understand.

He’s never had that. A relationship where people get each other gifts like flowers or in this case, bracelets. He’s slept with more guys than his fingers can count but he’s only had one real relationship and it was with a girl when he was sixteen and still in the closet so he was the one getting _her_ flowers.

This is—it’s different. This is Harry with his bright eyes and lovely smiles and cute giggles and charming personality. This is Harry who Louis likes more than he should.

This is Harry, the guy who’s finally setting him free.

—

It’s a few days later than he runs into Niall, quite literally and drops his books. Before he can even look down, Niall has picked them up and is holding them out to him.

Louis blinks in confusion before taking them. “Sorry,” He apologizes before adding, “and thanks.”

Niall laughs before shrugging. “No big deal. Where are you headed?” He wonders, eyes lighting up mischievously.

Louis understands that look all too well. “Just getting a snack before I start studying. What about you?” He asks, shifting the weight of his books to one arm.

Niall grins then, before grabbing Louis’ newly free arm and tugging. “I know just the place!” He says excitedly and Louis has no choice but to follow after him.

It’s not like he has many friends here anyways. The feeling is weird—having close to no friends. He’s used to being the center of attention and he _likes_ it. He’s never known loneliness but now that he has it, he finds himself not really minding.

With four sisters at home, he’s never really had time to appreciate the silence that comes with being alone. He’s never had time to himself. When he wasn’t at home, he was with his friends doing all kinds of stupid shit that got him into trouble a good percentage of the time.

Now, it’s just him.

Still, he wouldn’t mind the company occasionally so he lets Niall drag him wherever they’re going. It turns out to be some burger place and Niall doesn’t even end up eating a burger himself.

Louis doesn’t complain though because Niall pays and leads them to some table in the front corner before sitting in front of him with a grin that’s slightly scary. He notes that it’s very similar to Zayn’s scary grin.

“So what are your intentions with my son?” Niall asks in such a serious tone that Louis actually looks up from his fries with wide eyes but the blond is still smiling so he can’t honestly be doubting Louis. He thinks.

“Your son?”

Niall rolls his eyes and Louis sticks another fry in his mouth, raising an eyebrow.

“My son, you know, like oh, my son! There’s my son, Harry! How are you, my son?” Niall tries and Louis splutters for a moment before choking on his fry. He quickly takes a drink of his soda before clearing his throat and laughing.

“My God, are you all actually in a cult?” Louis asks, wiping his eyes which are teary.

Niall furrows his eyebrows before shrugging. “Doesn’t matter. What are your intentions with my son?”

Louis laughs again before schooling his face into a serious expression. “My intentions are completely holy, sir. I swear.” He makes an exaggerated gesture of crossing his heart and Niall’s entire façade breaks as he starts laughing, head falling onto the table.

“I’m going to enjoy having you around,” Niall tells him, before running a hand through his hair and Louis can see his bracelet with the blue stone more clearly.

He’s about to ask what the whole stone thing is about when Niall’s phone buzzes where it’s on the table. Niall takes a quick glance at it before looking over at Louis.

“That would be my cue. Nice talking to you, Louis. Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of each other soon,” Niall says, standing up and pretending to tip his imaginary hat.

Louis waves in confusion and the blond boy disappears out the door. Seconds after he’s gone, one of the waitresses come over looking anxious.

“Are you alright?” She asks, eyes wide with worry and Louis gives her a weird look.

“I’m fine, thanks. Just eating,” Louis informs, gesturing towards his half eaten burger and the waitress gives him a nervous smile.

She hesitates before saying, “You’re completely sure?” and Louis nods, taking a fry and pointedly biting into it.

The waitress looks flustered but she leaves. Louis isn’t sure why she came over until he remembers what Stan said on the first day about how Harry and his friends were ‘weird’ and how wary everyone in the club was wary like they were going to bite someone’s head off.

He feels offended on their behalf and although he hasn’t met Liam yet, of the three he has met none of them have been particularly rude or mean to him. They’re all a bit weird, yeah, but who isn’t. Louis feels the need to glare at the waitress but when he looks over, she’s with another two of the workers in front of a door and they’re all whispering while occasionally pointing at him.

Louis feels distinctly wrong footed so he grabs his food and wraps it up before shoving it into the paper bag that Niall bought it in. He leaves without saying anything and they watch him go.

It’s only when he gets outside that he thinks he smelled blood.

—

He’s in his Ancient and Medieval Theatre lecture class when his phone buzzes. Louis tries to discreetly take it out without getting anyone’s attention and when he looks at the screen, it’s a text from Harry.

_Fancy going ballroom dancing?_

Louis has to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

_I say we should old chap..away to it now ??_

He sees a little blob on his screen which means Harry is typing and in seconds there’s a reply. Louis has never met anyone who types as quickly as Harry and it continues to astound him every single day they text even though it’s been nearly three weeks.

_Oh stop it, you’re in class right now, aren’t you? But I was wondering, if you’d actually fancy spending some time with me later this evening?_

Louis can’t text back fast enough. The last time he saw Harry was two days back when he was getting coffee and promptly spilled it on the younger boy who just smiled like hot coffee was pleasant when it was soaking through his shirt.

He’s stupid in the best way Louis has ever known.

_Depends on what we are doing !!_

Louis sees the blob pop back up just in time for the teacher to dismiss the class. He grabs his folder and notebook, shoving them both under his arm and rushing out the door. Some people give him weird looks but he doesn’t care as he leans his back against the wall and looks back at his phone.

_You’ll see._

They end up going to a drive in movie theater and Louis mocks Harry for it the entire time they drive there.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” Louis whispers and Harry just levels him with a flat look (it’s not as flat as he’d like since Louis still thinks he looks really cute).

“We’re not in an actual movie theater,” Harry reminds before he starts fiddling with the radio station. Louis doesn’t even think this is Harry’s car because it looks older than him but then again, Harry’s some kind of indie hipster freak so it’s entirely possible that he bought a car that looked this old on purpose.

“I know, that’s why I’m laughing at you,” Louis points out, grinning when Harry sticks his tongue out. He does that a lot. He has a pretty good Miley Cyrus impression going, actually.

“I meant that you don’t have to whisper, love,” Harry replies, before leaning back in his seat with a grin. There’s about five minutes until the movie’s meant to start and Harry’s apparently got it on the right station so Louis isn’t questioning it.

What he is questioning is how the fuck there are actual drive in theaters in London and how Harry managed to find one. When he asked, Harry’s reply was, “I know a person,” which did nothing to actually help Louis’ curiosity.

Louis isn’t even sure what movie they’re watching but he supposes time spent with Harry is never bad. Clearly Harry isn’t familiar with this notion because a minute later, he opens his car door. “I’m going to go get some snacks so you don’t miss the movie,” Harry explains and how Louis ended up on another date with someone so lovely is so beyond him.

Louis nods and Harry grins before shutting the door.

Then it’s just Louis in the car for fifteen minutes and when the movie finally turns on, it’s something Louis has seen a dozen times in the past. He’s not one to complain though (at least not when it’s important) so he sits there and watches.

Harry comes back soon enough with a large bucket of popcorn, a tray of nachos, a few packets of candy and a soda. Louis gapes momentarily because Harry’s hands are huge and then again because are they meant to be able to finish all that?

“What’s all this then?” Louis asks, taking the nachos from Harry’s left hand so he can get inside without dropping anything.

“Food for you, sunshine,” Harry answers with a teasing grin while setting down the drinks and candy. He holds the popcorn in his lap but he doesn’t look like he’s going to be eating any.

“Here, have a nacho, cutie,” Louis offers in the same tone and Harry shakes his head, a smirk on his face.

Louis looks down at the nachos and he doesn’t see anything wrong with them so he tilts his head curiously and Harry rolls his eyes. Louis shrugs and puts one in his own mouth.

At some point, Harry gets up and throws out the popcorn once it’s established neither of them are going to eat it and now all that’s left is the empty nacho container which is filled with candy wrappers. Harry is drinking the soda and all Louis can focus on his lips.

Halfway through the film, Louis starts to get antsy. It’s just that—he’s seen this film _a lot of times_. And Harry’s sitting there being all pretty and well, Louis has never been one to resist temptation.

It’s all Harry’s fault anyways with the way he’s suggestively sucking on the straw and you know what, okay, _maybe_ Louis has heard one too many songs about car sex but that’s so not the point.

“Harry,” Louis calls softly and Harry briefly stops sucking on the straw to look over at Louis with a smile.

“Yeah?” Harry asks and then promptly starts sucking earnestly on the straw again because of course, fate isn’t all that nice after all.

“Well—actually, never mind,” Louis decides after a moment because it’s not like he can blurt out _I’d really like to suck your dick, thanks_ without Harry spilling his soda all over himself.

Harry gives a bemused look before shrugging with a smile and turning back to the film. Louis tries to think of way that he can come out of this sucking Harry’s dick but really, he can’t think of anything that wouldn’t be awkward.

Finally Louis gives up on thinking of some clever plot and just turns to Harry. The curly haired boy gives him a curious side look and Louis clears his throat before announcing, “Harry, I’ve seen this movie at least thirteen times.”

Harry's eyes widen in confusion before his expression shifts to something more appalled. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

Louis sighs, rolling his eyes good naturedly before smiling. “I was watching you instead. You have a really nice—well, everything. I didn’t mind. But now I’m a bit bored,” He admits and gives Harry a suggestive look.

Harry doesn’t seem to get it because he puts the drink down and his expression is worried. “Do you want to do something else? Because we can,” Harry offers, lips turning down in a frown and well, fuck that.

“I had something in mind, yeah. But we don’t need to leave,” Louis says slowly, biting his bottom lip to keep from smiling at how oblivious Harry is being.

The curly haired boy’s frown deepens and he takes a quick glance at their surroundings before asking, “And what’s that?”

“This,” Louis says before pulling Harry by the scarf he’s wearing and tugging him into a kiss. Harry makes a surprised sound and Louis uses that as an excuse to slip his tongue in. He’s determined to lick the taste out of Harry’s mouth this time.

Harry relaxes after a few seconds and starts kissing Louis back, one of his hands coming up to cup Louis’ jaw. Louis tries not to grin as he pushes Harry against his seat and stops kissing him to suck a love bite at the base of his throat.

Harry makes a sound that goes straight to his dick and in return Louis bites down right above his collarbone before soothing it over with his tongue.

Harry’s hips thrust up towards nothing and Louis plans to change that as soon as possible but before he does, he goes to kiss Harry again whose eyes are hooded.

He bites down on Harry’s bottom lip and the curly haired boy lets out a breathy sigh before he murmurs, “You’re a bitey one, aren’t you?” and Louis grins, teeth and all.

“My sharp teeth come into use sometimes,” Louis agrees and his hands slip down to unbutton Harry’s jeans.

Louis nearly laughs at Harry’s response to that which is grabbing his scarf and covering his own face. He doesn’t though because his mouth could be busy with other things.

After he finishes unzipping Harry's jeans, he gives a tug and Harry’s hips lift off the seat just enough so that Louis can pull them down to his knees.

Louis leans down to mouth at the bulge in Harry’s pants and the curly haired boy whines behind the stupid scarf on his head. Louis smiles against the skin of Harry’s thighs before he decides they’re a bit too pale for his liking and gets down to marking them.

He’s too busy sucking bruises into Harry’s thighs to even acknowledge his dick but when Harry tries, Louis pulls away from his thighs and bats at his hands. “No,” Louis scolds before he slips his fingers into the waistband of Harry’s pants and tugs, letting his cock free.

“You’re actually sucking me off while we’re at a drive in,” Harry says in disbelief, voice muffled and Louis flashes him a pretty smile he can’t see before ducking down to press his lips to the underside of Harry’s cock.

He does that for another minute before Harry starts bucking impatiently and Louis bites him as a reprimand. Harry settles after that and Louis decides he’s teased him enough and presses his tongue against the head of Harry’s cock.

The younger boy is making pretty noises and Louis wants to make him make more but before he does, he pushes himself up and tells Harry, “Start driving back.”

Harry splutters for a second and then Louis hears him take a deep breath before he pulls the scarf off his head. “You want me _drive_?” Harry repeats and Louis just levels him with a look that makes Harry turn the key in the ignition immediately.

Louis just grins before ducking his head back down and guiding Harry’s cock into his mouth. Harry curses under his breath but then the car starts moving and Louis is very satisfied with how his life is going.

When they hit a bump in the road, Louis gags but he doesn’t stop. He just pulls back slightly to lick at the head before going back down and breathing through his nose.

In the corner of his eye he can see that Harry’s grip on the steering wheel is pretty much a death grip and he feels proud that he’s responsible.

His hands are rested on Harry’s thighs and he brushes his thumb against one of the bruises that are forming and Harry whines lowly in the back of his throat.

Louis looks up at Harry from his eyelashes and one of Harry’s hands reaches down to wipe a streak of pre-come on the side of Louis’ lip. He hastily pulls off at that and gives Harry an exasperated look. “Both hands on the steering wheel, Styles,” Louis reminds before taking Harry’s cock in his fist.

He can hear Harry’s shallow breaths and he smirks before going down on Harry’s cock again until he reaches his fist. He pumps what he doesn’t fit in his mouth and when Harry comes, he swallows it before sitting back up in his seat.

Harry’s face is flushed and he’s out of breath but he’s not moving to pull his pants up which makes Louis raise an eyebrow. He leans over to do it himself and Harry manages to give him a grateful smile just as they pull into the student parking lot.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Harry wheezes and Louis just shrugs, staring at his hard on which is clearly visible in his jeans and Harry looks over as he parks the car.

He pulls the key out before smiling mischievously, dimples and all. “Seems only fair for me to return to the favor,” Harry tells him and Louis decides right there and then that no one in this world is better than Harry Styles.

—

Louis is sitting on the grass outside his dorm one afternoon after his last class and writing a draft for his essay when a shadow looms over him.

He looks up and his stomach twists when he realizes that it’s Stan. His best friend who he hasn’t spoken to in nearly a month.

It’s automatic for him look down at his arm, where there’s nothing but smooth skin. He looks back up at Stan with a hesitant smile that probably doesn’t reach his eyes but that’s enough for Stan to drop into the space next to him.

“Louis,” Stan greets, voice neutral and Louis nods back as a greeting. He picks up his pen and starts writing again in hopes it’ll make Stan leave but of course, knowing his best friend like he does, it’s not likely to happen.

“Do you need something?” Louis wonders and his voice is far from pleasant.

Stan winces before he says, “Just wanted to talk.”

“Yeah? About what?” Louis scoffs but before Stan can answer, Louis feels his phone buzzing on the ground next to him. When he looks at the screen, it’s Harry calling.

He doesn’t bother to run it through with Stan as he picks up his phone and answers it, lifting it so he can cradle it between his head and shoulder. Louis clicks and unclicks his pen as he waits for Harry to say something.

“Hi love,” Harry greets and Louis has to bite his bottom lip to keep from smiling because Stan is staring at him pointedly as if waiting for him to hang up. It makes him want to laugh.

“Hi to you Harry,” Louis replies and he starts to doodle mindlessly on his paper. If he starts writing Harry’s name, well, it is what it is.

Stan clearly doesn’t see it that way because he’s starting to look a bit upset. Louis raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything to him.

“Are you busy tonight?” He asks and his voice is brimming with hope as if there’s possibility Louis will say no. Ridiculous.

He says as much. “You’re ridiculous. Of course I’m not. Did you have something planned?”

Harry giggles on the other end and this time Louis can’t contain his smile. “Well, you did say you have no classes tomorrow, right?”

Louis nods before realizing Harry can’t see him. The person who can see him is currently beside himself with anger but that’s not Louis’ problem.

“That would be correct,” He agrees and puts a big heart next to where he wrote Harry’s name particularly large.

“What would you say to impromptu trip to France?” Harry asks and Louis splutters on his end of the phone. He nearly drops it but he reaches up hold it steady just in time.

“You’re kidding,” Louis accuses and Harry laughs on the other end.

“Nope. Flight scheduled for eight, if you’re interested,” Harry informs and Louis nearly breaks his pen in disbelief.

“Of course I’m interested. What the hell? More importantly _how_ the hell?” Louis demands but he’s smiling so wide his eyes are crinkling now.

He can almost hear Harry’s shrug on the other end. “Don’t worry about it. Also, you look like you’re in a bit of a tight spot,” Harry tells him and Louis blinks in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s a very angry looking boy sitting next to while you chat away on the phone with me, so if that’s any indication,” Harry explains and Louis immediately whips around, looking for Harry and he spots him across the lawn holding two coffees.

The curly haired boy raises them towards him meaningfully and Louis doesn’t think before he’s dropping his phone and running towards him.

He vaguely hear Stan calling his name but he doesn’t care because he’s hell bent on reenacting those stupid love scenes where the couples jumps into each other’s arms. Plus, Louis really needs coffee.

He can see Harry’s laughing when he’s close enough and he watches Harry set down the coffees just in time for Louis to jump on him. He lifts him easily and Louis wraps his legs around Harry’s waist before leaning down to kiss him.

Harry laughs into the kiss and Louis pulls back muttering, “You’re a literal angel.”

“And you’re an idiot. Also, I think your friend might kill me,” Harry says, letting Louis down gently and picking up the coffees. He hands one to Louis which he takes gratefully.

He nods back towards Stan who’s standing where Louis left him with his arms crossed and a stormy expression. “Yeah, he just might,” Louis agrees before smiling cheekily at Harry. “Can I have one last kiss before you die?”

Harry laughs but he obliges, pressing his lips against Louis’ softly before pulling back. “Here I thought you might save me but I see where your priorities lie. Coffee over me. You wound me,” Harry drawls before he kisses Louis again, almost like he can’t help it and Louis is very approving if that’s true.

“Sorry, love,” Louis apologizes and takes a sip of his coffee just to be a dick. Harry shoves him gently and Louis nudges him back. “So what’s this about France?”

Harry brightens up at that, grinning. “Well, I kind of want to buy one of those hats that French people wear and I don’t want one from England obviously. The flight time is a little more than half an hour and I booked two seats in case you wanted to come with.”

Louis gives him an incredulous look but he’s pretty sure it comes out fonder than he intends. “You mean a beret? You have to go to France for _that_?” Louis asks in disbelief and Harry just nods solemnly.

“Can’t disgrace the French by wearing a knock off. Will you be joining me, chere?” Harry holds his hand out and Louis rolls his eyes before grabbing it.

Harry’s eyes look like they’re shining when his hand squeezes Louis’. “We can do whatever we want all night. We could go to the Eiffel tower or eat a croissant—maybe even yell at some French people. I’ll need to polish up on my French obviously, but we’ve got a few hours until the flight of course so—“

Louis laughs before placing his hand over Harry’s mouth. “Shut up and just pick me up at seven if you’re serious.”

Harry just nods before backing away and he winks once before he leaves.

Louis looks after him with a smile and he jumps when he feels someone tap his shoulder. He turns and it’s Stan who’s holding all of Louis’ things out with a resigned expression. “We need to talk.”

“I’m sure we do,” Louis mutters before tilting his towards his dorm. “C’mon.”

They end up in Louis’ dorm and while he’s putting away his books, Stan is looking around. When Louis finally sighs and turns to Stan, the shorter boy is frowning.

“Well? Out with it,” Louis demands and he sits down in Zayn’s spinning chair. He’s always telling Louis not to sit on it but he does it anyways just to annoy the tanner boy. Zayn will just sigh and let him spin to his heart’s contents for all of five minutes before he threatens to remove Louis’ body parts. Louis knew they were roommates for a reason.

“He’s dangerous, Louis. I know you think you know what you’re doing but you _don’t_ , Louis. And I’m not trying to patronize you—but he’s not who you think he is,” Stan rushes out all in one breath and Louis gives him an unimpressed look.

“He reads to the blind on Sundays and finds homes for cats. I’m not really seeing the danger,” Louis says dryly and Stan gives him an equally unimpressed look back.

“You’re not getting what I’m saying,” Stan groans, looking seconds from punching himself, Louis and the wall.

“Nothing to get, mate,” Louis remarks and he spins a little.

Almost as if Zayn sensed the spinning (Louis is convinced Zayn isn’t human), he waltzes in and momentarily freezes when he sees Louis in his chair and Stan across the room.

Stan lets out a humorless laugh and gestures towards Zayn. “And what the hell is he doing here? You couldn’t _just_ associate yourself with Styles? You had to become friends with the entire group?”

Zayn doesn’t look all that bothered at first but then when Harry’s mentioned, his face turns darker. “I live here, geek, and I’m pretty sure you don’t so you can either mind your manners or get the fuck out,” He growls and Stan immediately takes a step back.

“People will know if I’m gone,” Stan replies and Louis gives him a weird look because is he seriously implying Zayn would kill him or something? For the past few weeks, Louis has come to the conclusion that despite his whole reputation, Zayn couldn’t hurt a fly.

It’s beginning to dawn on him just how badly Stan assumes of Harry and his friends. It makes him want to punch Stan in the face a little because he may not really know all of them but he knows them enough to know they’re not dangerous.

When he looks to Zayn, the boy’s face is impassive. “That’s really lovely. Now get out of my room.”

Stan glowers but there’s still a scared look in his eyes as he walks towards the door. “We’re not done with this conversation, Lou,” Stan informs before he shuts the door behind him.

There’s a beat of silence before Zayn shrugs to himself and says to Louis, “You need new friends, mate.”

Louis nods, staring at the door before turning back to Zayn. “Do you think I have to wear nice shoes to go to France?”

Zayn just raises an eyebrow and Louis sighs before elaborating, “I don’t even fucking know, okay. Harry wanted a beret and—don’t look at me like that!”

He hears Zayn’s laughter for hours after that, while the younger boy relentlessly teases him. Louis just glowers in return.

At precisely seven, he gets a text telling him to go downstairs. Zayn is still laughing. Amazing. Louis flips him the middle finger before grabbing his coat and walking out of the dorm.

Harry’s waiting for him in front of the doors and he’s all bundled up. There are newborn kittens less cute than Harry Styles. Louis walks up to him before tugging on his scarf and Harry comes easily, letting Louis kiss him.

“We’re actually doing this?” Louis asks once he starts walking side by side with Harry, fingers interlocked as they head towards the car parking lot.

Harry’s smiling like he can’t help it and he’s just—he’s really beautiful and Louis never in a million years thought he’d get to be with someone like him. And the most ridiculous part is that Harry looks at Louis like he’s thinking the same thing.

“Of course we’re doing this. Do I look like someone who doesn’t keep their word?” Harry asks mock-offended and Louis reaches over to pinch him.

“Don’t get cheeky with me. Also, I have a feeling you could charm your way out of anything,” Louis teases and he expects Harry to stick his tongue out the way he does anytime he doesn’t have a proper rebuttal for Louis’ teasing.

Instead Harry laughs like Louis’ said the funniest thing before nodding. “You have no idea,” Harry agrees, eyes twinkling with mirth. It reminds Louis that there’s so much he’s yet to uncover about this boy and that he plans on figuring out every single detail.

They get to the parking lot and Harry opens Louis’ door for him because he’s Harry and well, that’s reason enough. By the time they’re halfway to Heathrow it occurs to Louis what’s actually happening.

They’re actually going to France unless this is some elaborate trick to get in Louis’ pants which he seriously doubts because Louis is really easy, especially for Harry.

Louis has never been _anywhere_ aside from England and London itself is like an adventure but then here’s this curly haired boy who’s taking him to France in the middle of the night to buy a fucking _hat_.

He has no doubt that Harry’s _NYC_ and _LA_ tattoos are actually from going there now and he wonders where else Harry’s been. He wonders where else Harry will go. He wonders if he’ll be joining Harry on any more of his future trips.

He wonders how this became his life.

When they get to the airport, they’re parked in a no parking zone right outside the entrance to the terminal. Harry motions for Louis to stay inside the car for a moment before he steps out and talks to one of the security guards.

Louis watches as the guard’s eyes widen and if he squints he can swear he looks almost mesmerized by whatever Harry is saying to him. Louis thinks he understands that feeling all too well.

There’s a pause in the conversation before the guard nods and Harry comes over to open Louis’ door. “After you,” Harry offers and Louis rolls his eyes before stepping out. After he does, he leans in to get the keys and if Louis is staring at Harry bending over for longer than he should, it’s no one else’s business.

Harry gets out and tosses the keys to the guard, who catches them and gets in the car himself. Louis raises an eyebrow as the guard starts to drive off and he turns to Harry. “I didn’t know airports had valets,” He admits and Harry gives him a blinding smile.

“That’s because they don’t, love,” Harry assures and then he’s grabbing Louis’ hand and pulling them towards the entrance.

Louis gapes before he tugs Harry to a stop. “Did you just give your car to a random stranger?”

Harry just grins, tongue caught between his teeth. “Don’t worry you pretty little head about it. Now come on, we’re going to miss our flight,” Harry tells him and starts pulling him again. Louis is useless but to follow.

Once they get into the actual airport, Harry drags them towards a blonde flight attendant. Louis is actually incapable of believing that this is happening.

“Mister Styles,” The flight attendant greets and when Louis looks at her nametag it reads _Perrie_.

“Nice to see you Miss Edwards. I hope we aren’t too late,” Harry says and he’s smiling charmingly. Louis looks down to make sure their hands are still clasped together which they are because yeah, he’s a bit possessive, what about it?

“Of course not Mister Styles. Mister Malik called with all the details. We’ve only had to delay the flight for fifteen minutes,” She tells him, smiling before turning around. “Follow me.”

Harry follows after and Louis gives him an incredulous look. “They delayed the flight for you?” Louis whispers in disbelief and Harry shrugs.

“Just fifteen minutes,” He whispers back and Louis just stares at him with an expression of absolute loss. He’s back to convincing himself this is all an elaborate prank.

But then they’re at the platform and there’s an actual airplane outside the window. Louis stares at in awe because he’s never seen an airplane this close much less been on one.

“Will there be anything else, Mister Styles?” Perrie asks, smiling brightly and Harry shakes his head. Perrie hesitates before she adds, “Will you put in a good word to Zayn for me?”

Harry expression falls slightly, before he starts to say, “Pez, you know him and Liam are—” only to be cut off by her sigh.

“Yeah, I know. Doesn’t hurt to try though, does it?” Perrie replies before she fixes the bright grin back on her face. Louis is too busy feeling a little smug because he was right about Zayn and Liam.

It doesn’t explain the ring thing but then again, he’s putting that off to their cult thing that may or may not exist.

Harry is smiling sadly at Perrie but she isn’t taking any heed to it as she starts walking towards the tunnel that connects to the plane. “Just walk down this and first class should be to your right. Your seats are 1C and 1D.”

She doesn’t say anything more so Harry just nods before pulling Louis along. Only when they’re in their seats does it _really_ occur to Louis they’re going to France.

“We’re going to France,” Louis says blankly and Harry just gives him a weird smile.

Harry reaches over to buckle Louis’ seatbelt for him and his fingers brush against the sliver of skin where Louis’ sweater is riding up. Louis shivers before looking back over at Harry. “I’ve never been on a plane before,” Louis admits quietly and Harry’s hands still where they’re against his waist.

“Never?” Harry repeats, eyebrow raised and Louis shakes his head. “Where have you been then?”

Louis sighs quietly before admitting, “I've never really been anywhere.”

Harry gives him a look of disbelief before he smiles and says, “I'll take you wherever you want.” Louis laughs, shaking his head but Harry continues, “Rome, Paris, Tokyo.”

He’s smiling cheekily at this point and Louis looks down to hide his smile. “You’re silly,” Louis replies and Harry shakes his head.

“I'll let you in on a little secret: there's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities, and art, and music,” Harry whispers and then he smiles down at Louis pointedly. “Genuine beauty.”

There’s another pause where Louis is just gazing at him in wonder before Harry speaks again, moving back into his own seat. “And you could have all of it. You could have a thousand more birthdays, all you have to do is ask,” Harry offers quietly and Louis bites the inside of his cheek so he doesn’t break into a stupid grin.

“Big promises,” Louis replies and the pilot’s voice comes over the intercom. It’s him telling the passengers to buckle their seatbelts and put away their luggage but since they have no luggage and they’re already buckled up, Louis settles back in his seat.

“I’m glad you came,” Harry tells him quietly after a second and Louis turns to him with a fond expression.

“Yeah? Why did you invite me anyways?” Louis asks and Harry looks away, his face flushing pink. Louis feels curiosity bubble up and spill over the edges in his mind. “I'm not talking to you until you tell me why you invited me here,” He threatens and Harry pouts.

He doesn’t expect an answer but he gets one anyways. “I fancy you. Is that so hard to believe?”

Louis splutters momentarily because they haven’t really gotten to the point that they start admitting their feelings but it seems that’s what this is now. “ _Yes?_ ” He replies, voice pitching dangerously high and Harry laughs like Louis has said the most ridiculous thing.

“Why? You're beautiful, you're strong, you're full of light. I enjoy you,” He admits and Louis is in danger of passing out.

“Am I dreaming?” Louis asks out loud and Harry laughs again.

“Afraid not. Someone like me only belongs in nightmares,” Harry tells him and Louis gives him a considering look.

The curly haired boy sticks his tongue out because, of course and Louis can’t help the small laugh that escapes from his lips. “Not really that scary,” Louis tells him just as the plane starts to take off. His grip tightens on the edge of the seat.

Harry takes notice and gently pries Louis’ fingers off and holds his hand instead. “Hey, don’t freak out. We’re more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash,” Harry assures but that does nothing to soothe the nervous butterflies in Louis’ stomach.

“Hey, hey. Listen. Talk to me. Come on, get to know me. I dare you,” Harry challenges and it’s a bad attempt to distract him but Louis manages to give him a nervous smile.

His ears pop and he flinches before nodding quickly. “Fine. What do you want to talk about?”

Harry smiles and squeezes Louis’ hand reassuringly. “I want to talk about you. Your hopes, your dreams. Everything you want in life,” Harry murmurs, brushing his thumb over Louis’ knuckles.

Louis scoffs playfully and teases, “Just to be clear, I'm too smart to be seduced by you.”

Harry’s grin is blinding when he replies, “Well, that’s why I like you!”

He can’t help it when he leans over and brushes their lips together. “I like you too, in case it wasn’t obvious,” Louis murmurs against his lips.

Harry pulls away to grab a menu, hiding his face behind it and Louis laughs because he’s an idiot. Louis can’t believe this is happening. He’s always wanted to go places, to travel the world and just have _fun_ but he knows there are too many flaws in that plan.

He might be young now but he won’t be forever. He’ll have responsibilities and a job and he’ll have to take care of himself. He can’t just do whatever wants now—not when it could lead up to the biggest mistakes of his life.

No, all Louis has to do is get through university and get a flat and a job and figure his life out. Because that’s what he’s expected to do. He can’t just hop on a plane and fly to where he pleases no matter how much he wants to.

But right now, maybe it’s okay to do that. Maybe it’s alright to sit next to Harry and fly to France in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s alright to be a little irresponsible. To be a little reckless. He thinks, together they could be alright.

“I want to travel,” Louis says quietly and there’s a beat of silence before Harry moves the menu from his face to stare at Louis. His eyes are urging Louis on. “Go everywhere, I suppose. See the world. Be young and have fun. That sort of thing,” Louis confesses, before shaking his head and chuckling. “Never really had time to do whatever, you know? I’ve got four sisters and my mum’s been divorced twice. It was kind of up to me grow up and take responsibility.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry apologizes quietly and Louis smiles deprecatingly.

“You have no reason to be. It’s not your fault. It’s just life’s never been, well, I don’t know. A walk in the park? A rollercoaster ride? Sounds like something Zayn would say actually. Don’t tell him I said that. But yeah, I suppose it’s never been really easy. I don’t know.” Louis shrugs and tries not to chew on his bottom lip too harshly.

“You deserve to be happy,” Harry replies before he pulls his legs up and turns in his seat, giving all his attention to Louis. “Would that make you happy? To be young forever and travel and see the world?”

Louis shakes his head, letting out a low laugh. “It’s not possible Harry, and I know that. So I’ll settle for this. I’m happy here with you right now,” Louis admits and his hand reaches out without his own accord to brush a stray curl out of Harry’s eyes.

Harry just gives him this disgruntled look as if that isn’t enough. Louis doesn’t want his pity though so he puts on a brave smile. “Why don’t you tell me about your family?”

That gets Harry out of his reverie and he actually cracks a small smile. “They’re—they’re great. I love them a lot. There’s my sister, Gemma and then my mum, Anne. My dad isn’t really in the picture but that’s okay because my step-dad Robin is sick. Plus, my mum really loves him and if she’s happy, I’m happy. Gemma though—she’s a nuisance. She’s older than me so she’s always bossing me around and all that but I love her too. She’s so weird though, always dyeing her hair and all that stuff. She says my cooking isn’t on par but I beg to differ. I make some mean fajitas, let me tell you. But anyways, they’re all just really great,” Harry explains and his smile grows as he speaks. Louis likes that Harry talks about his family like they’re the most important people in the world.

“They sound lovely,” Louis agrees, unable to help the upward twist of his own lips.

Harry nods before he licks his lips and says, “I think they’d like you.”

Louis raises an eyebrow and shrugs. “If they’re a fourth as lovely as you, I’ll adore them,” He says and Harry looks delighted.

“Tell me more about your sisters,” Harry insists then, expression eager and Louis rolls his eyes but pulls his own legs up and turns to face the curly haired boy.

“There’s four them. Lottie’s the oldest and she’s at the age where she’s too cool to be seen with her older brother. She’s got these fandoms and things now. Felicite’s just a bit younger than her and she’s almost to Lottie’s stage but not quite there yet. Then there are the twins, Daisy and Phoebe. They’d love you just for your hair,” Louis informs, reaching up to run his fingers through Harry’s hair and the pleased noise he gets in return makes him stop short.

“Is that—is that a thing for you?” Louis wonders and Harry gives him a shy sort of smile before shrugging in a way that means yes. “Good to know,” Louis mutters under his breath before tugging sharply and Harry’s breath cuts off abruptly.

“ _Louis_ ,” Harry protests hoarsely and Louis smirks before leaning over the arm rest in between them to latch his mouth against Harry’s pulse point and the curly haired boy gasps quietly. Louis’ eyes light up as creeps down further to bite at Harry’s collarbone and give it a nice, dark mark.

“Looking good, love,” Louis mocks because that’s his new favorite thing to do. He loves saying _love_ just because Harry does all the time. Louis smirks before he tugs Harry by the hair at the nape of his neck into a bruising kiss. Harry makes an interesting sound at that and Louis has a feeling he’s going to like where this is going.

“Not—not here,” Harry finally says, pushing Louis away lightly. Louis looks around and there isn’t anyone else in the section so he shrugs, eyes twinkling.

“Why not?”

Harry has to take a deep breath before he answers and the fact Louis is reason he’s out of breath in the first place makes him giddy. “Flight attendants could walk in,” He reminds and Louis pouts momentarily before he grins again.

“Then what are we doing here? C’mon,” Louis says, unbuckling his seatbelt and getting to his feet. He holds his hand out. “Let’s go.”

Harry’s mouth falls open in surprise but after a moment’s hesitation he bites his bottom lip and slips his hand into Louis’ own. Louis grins and he has a feeling Harry is letting him do this because he’s afraid otherwise Louis might have a panic attack because they’re on a plane. He’s not all that wrong.

He pauses for a second though, meeting Harry’s eyes to make sure the younger boy is really okay with what Louis was doing. He’s always doing things like this—things that are stupid and reckless and bound to get him trouble but he doesn’t want to push Harry into doing something he doesn’t want to do.

Harry rolls his eyes, leaning forwards and kisses Louis briefly before pulling back. “Get on with it then,” He whispers and Louis grins in response.

Then he realizes he has no idea where the bathroom is and he gives Harry a helpless look. Harry rolls his eyes again before tugging Louis in the opposite direction, down a hallway before they come to a door.

“Fuck, you’re amazing, you know that?” Louis murmurs, squeezing Harry’s hand gently and the curly haired boy ducks his head with a smile.

“I’ve been told a few times, yeah,” Harry agrees, turning back with a smirk this time. “After you,” He says, gesturing towards the door.

“Someone’s getting cheeky,” Louis mutters, pushing the door open with his free hand and then tugging Harry inside.

Harry giggles, flipping on the light switch before he says, “Learned from the best,” but his voice cracks at the end because Louis pulls him into a kiss and their teeth clack. It’s messy and Louis loves it.

“Who would that be?” Louis wonders, pulling back so he can see Harry clearly and the taller boy’s cheeks are flushed. His lips are a darker shade of red and his eyes are blown so wide that there’s only a rim of green visible.

“Figure it out,” Harry offers and his fingers are fumbling to lock the door behind his back. Louis can’t stop smiling but there’s a flash of white heat in his stomach.

Louis’ hands drift to Harry’s waist and pulls him in, murmuring, “I think I’ve already figured out what I need to know.” He has to get on his tiptoes to really kiss Harry but then the taller boy bends so it’s a little easier. The kiss is different from the last—more heated. Louis runs his tongue along Harry’s bottom lip and the curly haired boy lets his lips part.

Harry’s teeth are sharp against his tongue so he’s careful not to hurt himself in the process but when Louis’ tongue runs over them, Harry makes a sweet sort of sound. Louis would grin if he wasn’t kissing him.

Louis runs his fingers through the hair at the base of Harry’s neck and tugs experimentally. It seems to be a good experiment because Harry keens in to his mouth. Louis pulls back to take another look at Harry he whispers, “You look really fucking beautiful right now,” and his breath ghosts along Harry’s lips.

“You’re one to talk,” Harry replies and his hands go to the Louis’ waist, pulling them closer. Louis doesn’t say anything but it’s really hot that one of Harry’s hands could probably span the length of his back.

Harry’s hands creep down to the hem of Louis’ jumper then, pulling lightly and Louis nods. He lets Harry slip the jumper off along with the shirt underneath and then motions towards Harry’s own jumper. “Off,” Louis demands and Harry complies easily, slipping it off in a quick motion that Louis barely even sees.

“Christ, are you even real?” Louis finds himself murmuring and his hand reaches out to touch Harry’s stomach where there’s a huge tattoo of what could either be a butterfly or a moth.

Harry just makes a quiet whining noise, batting away Louis’ hands. The only reaction Louis has to that is to kiss him again, until his lips feel raw.

“Do you even know how unsanitary this is?” Harry murmurs when Louis pulls away for a brief second and Louis can’t help his grin at that.

He turns to Harry, licking his lips. “I want to fuck your mouth,” he admits and Harry’s eyes darken in surprise. “But that’s unsanitary too, isn’t it?”

Harry doesn’t say anything in return—instead he drops to his knees and starts unbuckling Louis’ belt enthusiastically like if he doesn’t get Louis’ cock in his mouth right this second he’ll explode. Louis thinks he’s close to doing the same himself.

He’s quick about it too, Louis notices, because his pants are on the ground within seconds and then there’s lips on the tip of his cock. “Fuck,” Louis mutters and Harry laughs, sending vibrations down Louis’ cock.

Louis slips his fingers into Harry’s hair and tugs harshly. Harry’s response is to sink a few inches further down on Louis’ cock. When Harry finally looks up, his eyes are wet and his lips are stretched obscenely. Louis is pretty sure he’s never seen a prettier picture.

“Stay still,” Louis orders and Harry blinks in assent, his hands going behind his back. Louis thinks they might need to talk about how easily Harry takes direction at some point.

Louis brushes his fingers along Harry’s cheek where he can feel the outline of his cock and Harry swallows greedily. Of course he doesn’t have a gag reflex. All the better for Louis though.

He thrusts shallowly and Harry just blinks at him, as if telling him to go harder. Louis’ fingers slip into Harry’s hair again and he pulls Harry’s head back to which Harry makes this muffled noise of appreciation.

Louis sets a brutal pace then, fucking into Harry’s mouth and the curly haired boy just keeps making these noises like he enjoys it. His eyes are glossy and he looks so fucked out and _good_. Louis can barely keep his thoughts straight.

When Louis’ about to come, he tightens his fingers in Harry’s hair as a warning and the younger boy just blinks again so Louis figures he’ll swallow.

He does and when he pulls off, his lips are raw and Louis wants to kiss him. He helps Harry off the ground and pushes him against the wall before kissing him, gentle and slow. Harry sighs against his lips and Louis reaches his hand in between them, ready to jerk him off when he feels that Harry’s jeans are wet.

He pulls away immediately and stares at them in wonder. “Did you..?” He asks in disbelief and Harry flushes red before nodding.

Louis just stares in awe and he can’t help when he pulls Harry in for another kiss. “You’re fucking amazing, mate,” He mutters against Harry’s lips and the curly haired boy just smiles tiredly.

When they get back to their seats, the pilot’s voice is on the overcome again. He’s telling everyone they’re about to land and Louis blinks in disbelief. They’re in France, already?

“Are we really here?” Louis asks, moving to shuffle over the window but Harry grabs him around the waist and points to his seat.

“Safety hazard,” Harry croaks hoarsely and Louis pouts but he’s fighting off a grin because he’s the one that’s making Harry’s voice sound like that.

“Alright, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Louis teases and sits down in his seat, putting his seatbelt on. Harry’s staring at him with this fond expression that Louis doesn’t even pretend to understand.

When his ears pop, Louis’ automatic reaction is grab for Harry’s hand and the curly haired boy takes it easily and like the end of their first date, he raises it to his mouth and brushes his lips against Louis’ knuckles.

Louis pulls his hand out of Harry’s hand then and traces his lips instead because they’re red and puffy and Louis likes to touch things he probably shouldn’t.

Harry lets him though and Louis thinks Harry is the best adventure he’s ever embarked on.

Once they land, Harry leads them out of the airport and into a cab (although first, they stop at a tourist shop and Harry somehow finds a pair of skinny jeans to replace the ones he’s ruined). Louis is too busy staring around in amazement to do much else. The air feels easier to breathe here and he knows his eyes are probably the size of saucers but he can’t help it.

This is crazy—his life is crazy. _Harry_ is crazy for actually taking him to France for a hat. But fuck if Louis doesn’t love crazy.

The cab driver is speaking to them in French and Louis is at a lost for what to say but when Harry replies in fluent French, Louis considers dropping his pants for him right there and then.

“You can actually speak French,” Louis says in disbelief and Harry grins before shrugging.

“Just a bit,” Harry admits, leaning back in his seat and Louis watches him in wonder. It’s one of those moments he’s having a hard time believing Harry is real.

He’s just this bright eyed boy with the prettiest smile Louis has ever seen. Harry’s eyes are a bright, bright green now and Louis can see the lights of Paris reflected in them.

Still, Louis can stare into Harry’s eyes whenever he likes but he doubts he’ll get a chance to see Paris again so he turns towards the window, watching as they pass by countless shops and people.

“Where are we going?” Louis wonders, still staring at out the window and Harry giggles before picking up his hand and lacing their fingers together.

There’s a pause where he can feel Harry staring at him and then the younger boy says, “I doubt you’ll know what I’m talking about but we’re going to La Place du Trocadéro first.”

Louis grins in response and squeezes Harry’s fingers.

Their ride is silent but he can feel Harry playing with the fingers on his free hand so he assumes the curly haired boy isn’t too bored. Louis doesn’t know how _anyone_ could be bored in a city that’s so beautiful. It’s enough to rival Harry’s own beauty but Paris doesn’t quite compare. Nothing and nobody compares, if Louis is being honest.

“Is this a date?” Louis blurts as the car comes to a stop and the laugh Harry lets out in surprise answers his question before Harry can.

“What did you think this was?” Harry asks, a grin tugging at his lips as he pays the driver and opens the door. Harry helps him out too but Louis is too busy blushing to look him in the eye.

He shrugs before muttering, “How am I supposed to know? You’re strange,” and Harry giggles in response. Then Louis looks up and his mouth falls open in disbelief. “Wait, what? What is this? Am I dreaming? Is this heaven? Why is everything so pretty? Harry, _what_ ,” Louis mumbles, eyes wide.

It’s quite possible he’s staring at the most beautiful place he’s ever seen in his entire life. It’s a garden—there’s a few people lingering around but Louis is too busy staring at the fountains and when he actually looks up, the Eiffel Tower is _right there_.

“ _Harry_ ,” Louis exclaims, tugging on his arm and Harry is laughing in his ear.

“Are you alright, love?” Harry teases and Louis just gives him an incredulous look before pulling him towards the fountains.

There’s a huge pool of water in the middle, surrounded by large patches of grass where he can see a few people lounging down by the pool. Up ahead there’s smaller fountains and a few statues that Louis wouldn’t know the name of even if he had them in front of him.

Still, Louis is pretty sure he’s in love with the place and he thinks he wants to live in one of those fountains. “Harry, is this place _real_?” Louis asks in disbelief and tugs them towards one of the vacated fountains. He can feel the spray of the water as they walk closer and it makes him grin.

“It’s real,” Harry confirms and Louis watches as the taller boy pulls his wallet out of his pocket. He pulls out a coin and holds it out to Louis. “Do you want to make a wish?”

Louis doesn’t say _all my wishes came true the second I met you_ because that would probably scare Harry away and he kind of needs to get back to England. So he grabs the coin and takes the few steps necessary to be in tossing distance of the wishing well.

Louis closes his eyes and thinks, _I wish my life was always like this_ before tossing the coin. He hears a splash and then he hears another one. He opens his eyes to see Harry standing next to him, staring at a rippling spot in the fountain.

“What’d you wish for?” Louis ventures and Harry turns to him with a smirk.

“If it comes true, you’ll see,” Harry replies, tapping Louis’ nose and it’s so much like their first date that Louis giggles.

Distantly there’s a shout and some cheering. Louis’ curiosity sparks and he decides to really listen for a second. He can’t hear everything but the things that he can hear make his mind itch with wonder and want.

He hears cars honking and water rushing and hundreds of voices speaking in French but then there’s lips pressing against his cheek and all he can hear is his own heart beating in his chest.

“I want to jump in,” Louis murmurs after a second, eyes meeting Harry’s own bright ones. He watches them light up further and then Harry’s lips curve up into a grin.

“The pool?” Harry asks to confirm and Louis nods. “Okay, let’s do it,” Harry agrees and Louis blinks in surprise. He didn’t think it would be quite that easy.

“Will we get in trouble?” Louis asks and Harry’s grin doesn’t falter.

He’s never met someone with such an infectious smile before but Harry’s dimples make his own eyes crinkle in response. “Don’t see anyone to tell us off,” Harry replies and Louis thinks Harry was probably made for him.

Louis always does stupid things like this but usually it takes a pep talk and a lot of convincing to get someone to join him—although they inevitably always do. Harry, however, seems to be just as excited as he is.

So they do it. Louis takes Harry’s hand and they cross over the grass towards the pool. All the tourists that were wandering around seem to be gone and it’s probably half past ten at night. He hesitates a second before he steps in. Harry’s about to follow after him but Louis uses the moment to splash him and then he proceeds to run away.

He’s laughing and he can hear Harry spluttering in shock. Louis turns around to stick his tongue out at Harry’s incredulous expression. Louis is getting absolutely soaked to the bone because the fountains haven’t stopped spraying water but he’s more worried about making sure Harry doesn’t get to him than being wet.

He stops momentarily to wipe the water out of his eyes and when he opens them, Harry is standing in front of him with a wicked look in his eyes. There’s probably a second where they’re just staring at each other—Louis with surprise and Harry with a smirk—before Louis gets a mouthful of water as Harry splashes him.

“Hey!” Louis calls, distraught but when he looks up, Harry’s gone. He feels a tap on his shoulder and he whirls around only for no one to be there either. He pouts and he hears Harry’s laugh from behind him. “How are you doing that? It’s cheating!” Louis complains, turning towards his laugh but Harry’s gone again.

He grumbles under his breath and this time there’s hands pulling on his waist, turning him around and then Harry’s kissing him. Louis instantly forgives him and melts into his touch.

Then Harry stiffens and pulls back. Louis gives him a confused look but Harry’s lips are pressed tightly together like he’s trying not to laugh. “We’re about to get in trouble. Come on,” Harry says, pulling Louis’ arm.

Louis blinks but then he distantly hears someone shouting, “Hey! Hey! You two aren’t allowed to be in there!” and he bursts into giggles. He lets Harry lead the way out, following after him and then they’re running.

When they get the edge of the garden, they stop. They’re both ridiculously wet and Harry’s hair is falling into his face so Louis gets on his tip toes to push it out of his eyes. While he’s there, he kisses the tip of Harry’s nose and then falls back on the flats of his feet.

His shoes are definitely ruined and his clothes are dripping but Harry’s giving him this _smile_ so Louis couldn’t care less. “I feel like we’re in some bizarre romance film,” Louis admits, tilting his head and Harry doesn’t say anything in return.

Instead he presses a soft kiss to Louis’ lips before he pulls back with an expression that lights up his whole face. “Do you want to go to the Eiffel Tower?” Harry murmurs, licking his lips and Louis laughs at the absurdity of the situation.

“We’re soaking,” Louis reminds and Harry rolls his eyes, before he starts walking towards the Eiffel Tower itself which is quite literally not even five blocks away.

Louis jogs to catch up with him and his shoes squeak noisily against the pavement. He falters and then against his better judgment he takes them off before running after Harry. “Don’t walk so fast,” Louis calls and he can Harry’s laugh even from where he is.

He huffs exasperatedly and Harry stops walking, turning towards Louis and waiting for him to catch up. When Louis catches up, Harry gives him this weird smile and Louis knows he’s about to be told an awful joke.

“Hey, Louis, are you tired?” Harry asks nonchalantly and Louis sighs, rolling his eyes before nodding. “Yeah, I figured, since you’ve been running through my mind all day,” Harry says and he grins like he’s some sort of comical genius.

Louis just groans, shaking his head. “That was awful. Even worse than the banana one you told me,” He accuses and Harry pouts.

“The banana one was good!” Harry protests and Louis just shakes his head again.

“Absolutely awful,” Louis repeats and Harry just sticks his tongue petulantly before looking at Louis’ shoes with a pointed eyebrow.

Louis just shrugs so Harry shrugs back. Louis gives him a light shove before he starts walking again. “They’re not going to let us in,” He complains and Harry’ eyes light up.

“You’d be surprised.”

It turns out that they _do_ let them in, despite the fact that they’re both still dripping water and Louis is carrying around a pair of shoes. It’s alright though because Louis gets to hold hands with Harry on top of Paris.

The view is beautiful and when he says as much to Harry. The curly haired boy just shakes his head and tells him, “If Paris is beautiful, then you’re Paris.”

Louis narrows his eyes and gives Harry a sidelong look. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Harry shrugs, running his free hand through his wet hair. “Paris is all things lovely. Paris is waking up at noon to the warmth of the sun on your bare back. Paris is painting the sky in all the colors. Paris is where people bleed in beauty. Paris is full of life and it breathes the air just as much as we do. Paris is everything and nothing all at once. Paris is you, Louis,” Harry murmurs and Louis is quiet for a moment.

Then Louis turns and pulls him into a bruising kiss. When he pulls back, he whispers, “Then we’re so Paris when we kiss,” and Harry smiles.

So Louis falls in love with Paris and there’s really nothing more he could ask for.

Except for a new pair of clothes, but they get that when Harry stops for his beret. They actually get a beret. Louis is amazed this whole trip is even a real thing.

They’re on a flight back at three in the morning after they get some food and Louis falls asleep on Harry’s shoulder five minutes into the flight. He wakes up in his own bed.

The only proof he has that the night was real is that there’s a beret sitting on side table next to a plate filled with croissants. Louis decides right then that he is going out with the most ridiculous person to ever exist. He doesn’t really mind though.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All mistakes are my own. Enjoy this monstrosity of a fic. Also, comments and kudos make me the happiest girl in the world so pleaseeeeee. :)

It’s the middle of October when he finally meets Liam.

Louis has known Harry for over a month and he’s incredibly besotted with him, no matter how much he denies it when Zayn calls him out on it. He’s had coffee with Niall a few times since and since he lives with Zayn, he sees him all the time but he’s still yet to meet Liam.

It’s the last one of Harry’s friends that Louis really needs approval from, so he’s on the lookout for the brown haired boy when he’s going to his classes. As it turns out, Liam is the one to come to him.

He’s sitting in the library with a textbook on Literature in front of him and he thinks he’s quite possibly falling asleep. He immediately wakes up though when someone slides into the seat in front of him and drops their textbooks on the table.

He jerks up quickly and his glasses fall off his face. He blinks in confusion because no one really bothers him other than Niall and he’s told Louis repeatedly that he wouldn’t be caught dead in the library.

It’s mostly because of the whole Harry thing but on the bright side, Louis is acing all of his classes now that he doesn’t have any other distractions. It’s a win-win situation, really.

Then he sees that it’s Liam that’s sitting in front of him and he immediately starts fumbling for his glasses. He slips them on before giving Liam a hesitant smile.

Liam smiles back and he holds out a cup of coffee to Louis. “Do you mind if I sit here?” Liam asks and Louis immediately shakes his head.

He falters momentarily before taking the cup from Liam’s outstretched hands. “Thanks,” He says slowly and Liam shrugs.

Louis takes a small sip and he’s pleasantly surprised to find it’s what he usually orders. He thinks Harry probably had something to do with that but he doesn’t say anything and just turns back to his textbooks.

They sit together for an hour before Liam closes his physics textbook pointedly. Louis chances a glance up and Liam is giving him a considering look.

“So, you’re the guy who’s dating Harry,” Liam starts with and Louis flushes before shrugging and nodding.

“Yeah, that’s me,” He agrees, closing his own textbook and pushing it to the side. He’s a little scared to see where this conversation is going.

“And you like him?” Liam continues conversationally, spinning his pen with his fingers and Louis takes a second to think about what his fists could probably do to Louis’ face before he swallows nervously.

“I do,” Louis admits and Liam gives him another considering look before he looks Louis straight in the eyes.

Louis is amazed he hasn’t passed out yet but he thinks he’s close to when Liam says, “If you break his heart, I will break _you_ and I promise it won’t be pretty,” casually, like he hasn’t just threatened to possibly kill Louis.

But then again, Louis is stupid so instead of cowering in his seat and nodding, he holds Liam’s gaze and replies, “I promise to break _myself_ if I break his heart.”

Liam’s silent for a moment then before he breaks into a grin and Louis is taken back because Liam just looked like an intimidating bodybuilder a second ago but now he looks a lot like a puppy. All of Harry’s friends are so fucking weird.

“Awesome. Now tell me, what’s he like on dates? He hasn’t dated in _ages_ , literally. I heard he took you to France. He really goes all out, doesn’t he? And he took you to the restaurant earlier this week, right? Louis, you have to tell me everything. I am begging,” Liam pleads, and his eyes seem to dilate as they stare into Louis’ own.

Louis just blinks at him in disbelief. “What,” He says blankly and Liam gives him a quizzical look before his eyes flicker down to Louis’ wrist and he slouches in his seat, a smile still on his lips.

“I’ll get it out of you at one point. It seems I can’t right now. Nice bracelet by the way,” Liam compliments with a tilt of his head and Louis looks down at the woven bracelet on his wrist.

“Thanks,” Louis says slowly and Liam just keeps smiling weirdly.

Louis offers a small smile back before looking back down at his closed textbook. When he looks back up, Liam and all his stuff is gone.

He looks at the empty seat in disbelief and when he takes a cursory look around, Liam is nowhere in sight. Louis sighs to himself and resigns himself to the fact that Harry’s friends really are just strange.

Despite this, Louis genuinely really likes Harry. He thinks he likes him a bit too much actually and it’s not as if it doesn’t occur to him that they’re not even official. Harry isn’t even his boyfriend so Louis shouldn’t be feeling the way that he does, but it’s like, he _really_ fucking likes Harry.

He likes the way the boy smiles and his stupid jokes and his horrible sense of humor and his ridiculous cravings and the way his hand fits with Louis’ and how he laughs like he doesn’t have a care in the world. He likes all of it—he’s yet to find anything he doesn’t like about Harry, and that in itself is so worrying.

Louis has never stuck to a guy for so long—he drifts. He doesn’t like being tied down and he thinks he’s too young to even think about spending months and months after one guy.

He didn’t expect to like being in a relationship so much. He likes the good morning texts he gets with the stupid emojis and the way Harry knows his coffee order inside out and how sometimes he finds flowers in his room, with a post it attached that has nothing but a smiley face. He likes that he gets taken out on dates every week and he likes that all of it is with Harry.

It’s something that he tries not to think of too often because he’s a little scared of what’s happening to him. He’s never been a relationship type of guy but now he thinks if this were to end, he’s probably sink into a dark abyss somewhere and never crawl out.

He especially refuses to think about it when after he finishes one of exams, he gets a text from Harry asking if he wants to come over for dinner.

Louis has never been to Harry’s house (and yes, it’s an actual house, Louis asked to confirm. He isn’t sure how Harry even affords it but then again, his housemates are Niall and Liam and Louis is pretty sure Niall is some type of multi-millionaire), so sue him if he’s a little nervous.

Zayn isn’t there when he’s getting ready—Harry tells him not to dress up but he wears his nicest shirt anyways. He pairs it with a pair of black skinny jeans though, so he thinks it’s casual enough.

At some point, he gets a text from Stan asking if they can hang out and talk and Louis almost feels bad when he declines and says he’s going to Harry’s.

He doesn’t get a reply but it says on the bottom of the screen that the text was seen so he doesn’t worry about it too much. Harry tells him there’ll be a car waiting for him at the parking lot when Louis asks how he’s supposed to get there. He thinks maybe he should be surprised but at this point, he’s really not because Harry is quite literally capable of the impossible.

“Fuck,” is the first thing Louis says when he gets out of the cab. The driver told him it was paid for in advance and now Louis understands why.

He is literally staring at the largest house he’s ever seen in his entire life. It’s huge. There’s, like, five stories. Louis is quite possibly dating a millionaire. He’s always wanted a sugar daddy—well not the daddy part but—okay, you know what, Louis doesn’t have to explain himself.

Still, it was a dream buried deep in his mind for a rainy day where he ended up failing all his classes. He’s currently at the top of his class though, so he doesn’t know how this is even happening. It isn’t even _raining_.

There’s actual gates in front of the house and he sees a keypad on the side. He has no clue what the password is but then he sees a button beneath it. He walks over slowly and then hesitates before pressing down.

A chiming starts to go off and Louis gives the offending button a glare. He jumps in surprise when he sees a figure in the dark but then he sees Niall’s face and he relaxes.

Niall is smirking strangely though as he types in something on the other side of the gate before the gates slide open. “Have fun,” Niall says and then as soon as Louis steps though, Niall steps out and the gate closes.

Louis turns to see Niall wave and then the blond haired boy is gone in the darkness. He shakes his head before he looks back at the house. There’s a garden in front and Louis realizes this is probably where the flowers in his room come from.

He’s too overwhelmed to register that Harry’s standing at the door until he catches sight of him there, watching Louis with a fond smile.

Louis has the decency to flush before he walks to the front door. Harry pulls him by the waist when he’s close enough and then they’re kissing. When Harry pulls back, he’s still smiling and Louis stares at him dazed.

“Hi to you too?” Louis offers and Harry chuckles before pulling him inside and shutting the door. The inside of the house is just as beautiful as the outside. There’s a chandelier in the entry way and Louis pauses to stare at it in disbelief.

“How much money do you _have_?” Louis wonders because he doesn’t have a shred of decency or any sense of tact but Harry doesn’t seem to mind because he’s watching him with an amused expression.

“It’s a shared bank account between me and the boys but it’s a lot, I’ll give you that,” Harry says and Louis wants to ask more but then the curly haired boy is walking into another room and the house is big enough that Louis is afraid he might get lost so he follows him.

There’s actual paintings hung on the wall. Louis is completely sure that Harry isn’t even a real person. They make their way through the house until they get to a large kitchen and Harry seems to pick off where he must’ve left off. Louis takes a seat on the counter opposite of Harry and he watches.

Harry’s actually beautiful and Louis doesn’t think he notices enough but when he does, it hits him like a blow to the head. Right now, he’s tying an apron on and he’s rolling up his sleeves. Louis has to bite his lip to keep from smiling too big.

“What are you making?” Louis asks and Harry turns to him with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“I told you I make mean fajitas and I plan to live up to it,” Harry announces, pointedly holding up a tomato in his right hand. Louis giggles and just shakes his head because he’s quite enamored with this boy actually.

He swings his legs and watches Harry cook for a while more but then he gets a bit bored so he hops off the counter. He’s totally prepared to bother Harry but then the curly haired boy turns and gives him this _look_ so Louis pouts instead.

“Go look around or something,” Harry advises, nodding towards the door opposite of the one they came through.

Louis raises his eyebrows. “What if I get lost?”

Harry rolls his eyes and says, “I’ll find you. Just give a shout.” Then he turns his back on Louis, turning back to his fajitas and Louis snorts before he decides to do what Harry said.

He’s positive he’s going to get lost but what’s life without a little danger is what he reasons in his mind as he enters what looks like an extended hallway.

There’s pictures here though, frames hung up on the wall. Louis looks at the first one and it’s a black and white picture of Harry smiling and there’s a girl next to him who has the same eyes. Louis figures it’s his sister and moves on to the next one.

It’s a full family picture this time and Louis can see that pretty clearly runs in the family. It’s black and white too and Louis belatedly realizes they’re dressed a little weird. He frowns quizzically but he moves on to the next.

This time, it’s a picture of Harry and Niall standing next to each other and it’s black and white too. Niall looks different only for the reason that he looks stiffer and even scared, actually. Harry looks a little worried but they’re both still smiling. They’re dressed weirdly too.

The next is a lone picture of Niall who’s laughing with his head thrown back and he’s wearing a suit. It’s black and white too. Louis wonders if Harry has a thing for black and white pictures. That’s what it would seem because when it takes a cursory glance down the row, they all seem to be black and white.

The next is a picture of Harry with his sister on his lap and they’re both sipping tea from actual tea cups—the fancy ones. Louis rolls his eyes and moves to the next.

It’s a picture of Liam and Niall this time and they’re both giving exasperated looks so Louis assumes that Harry’s the one taking the picture.

Then it’s a photo of all three of them, jumping on each other’s backs and laughing. It’s Louis’ favorite so far because Harry’s smile is the brightest.

The next is a photo of Harry with a bunch of kittens in his lap and one of top of his head. His tongue is stuck out in the picture and Louis isn’t surprised at all.

The few after that are just pictures of all of the three of them in different places but they all look happy and Louis figures that’s what matters. He skims past those and then stops when he gets to one of Zayn.

Zayn isn’t looking in the photograph and his body posture is stiff. Louis sees Niall in the background of the picture but he’s too blurry to make out what he’s doing.

Louis shrugs and moves to the next picture. This time it’s Liam and Zayn and neither of them are looking. Zayn is sat at desk, writing with—a _quill?_ —and Liam is watching him from a few feet away. It’s a bit of a personal picture actually and Louis feels like he’s intruding by just looking. He moves to the next one and it’s a photograph of the four of them, standing in front of the Hollywood sign.

He blinks in surprise but moves on to the next and it’s a picture of Harry and Zayn in leather jackets, leaning against a pair of motorcycles.

Louis rolls his eyes and moves to the next one which is in color. It’s a picture of Niall flying a kite on the beach and Liam and Zayn are by his feet, sitting on a towel.

The one after that is one of Harry hanging from a roof by his fingertips and he’s laughing. His hair looks wild and Louis is scared of him falling even though the picture is clearly in the past.

He looks at the date in the corner which reads _7/5/63_. He stares it blankly for a second and then blinks in confusion a few times. Then he decides the camera must’ve been functioning weirdly and moves on to the next one.

It’s Niall playing football and there’s horses in the background of the picture. Louis wonders where the hell they got all this time to go and travel to all these places. The dates are still weird as he goes but he ignores it. When he gets to the last picture, he feels his lips part in surprise.

The picture is Polaroid from one of their dates where Harry insisted he brought his camera along and it’s just a picture of Louis laughing when Harry accidently spilled his drink on a woman at the movie theatre (the actual one this time).

“I thought you looked beautiful,” A voice says from behind him, making him start and when he turns around Harry’s standing there against the wall, arms crossed and a small smile on his face.

“You’re a sap,” Louis mutters and flushes at being caught. “How long have you been there?”

Harry shrugs before he holds his hand out. “Come on, the food’s ready.”

Louis gives him a weird look but takes his hand anyways and follows him back to the kitchen. Once they enter, he’s struck by how good it smells. “You’ve been holding out,” Louis immediately accuses and Harry laughs throatily.

“Not intentionally,” Harry replies, a smirk on his face and Louis immediately catches that he isn’t talking about the food. He raises his eyebrows and decides the food can wait.

“Haven’t stuck to my word, have I?” Louis wonders out loud and Harry gives him a bemused look.

Louis tilts his head, considering his words carefully before reminding, “When we first met. You asked me if I didn’t want to sleep with you and I told you I wanted to go on a date first but wouldn’t mind the rest.”

Harry swallows audibly at that and his eyes darken. “I didn’t realize that was a promise,” Harry murmurs, eyes dropping to Louis’ lips before back to his face.

Louis feels his lips curve up and he laughs quietly. “The food can wait,” He says and then pushes Harry’s chest lightly until they’re backed up against the wall. “I’d rather eat you anyways,” He murmurs absently and Harry chuckles at that before he leans down to kiss Louis.

It’s a hungry kiss—it’s messy and there’s too much tongue but Harry tastes of vanilla and Louis likes it. He pushes Harry until they’re chest to chest and he leans up to wrap his arms around Harry’s neck.

Harry’s hands trail down his back until they’re under Louis’ thighs and then he’s picking Louis up. A noise of surprise falls from Louis’ lips but he easily wraps his legs around Harry’s waist too, pressing kisses to his jaw as the taller boy starts walking out of the kitchen, supporting Louis’ weight.

“You love this, don’t you,” Louis mutters between kisses. “Manhandling me.”

Harry just growls quietly in response and Louis laughs, kissing his nose because the curly haired boy couldn’t be intimidating if he tried. “You’re cute love, but we both know who’s in charge here,” Louis murmurs.

He falters at that and Louis belatedly realizes they’re in a bedroom. He raises one of his eyebrows pointedly and Harry shrugs before licking his lips. Louis gets the point though and he presses their lips together.

When Harry bumps into the bed frame, Louis laughs into Harry’s mouth and unwraps his legs from Harry’s waist. Then he proceeds to pull Harry to the bed and push him back on to it.

He crawls on top of Harry, settling between his legs and kisses him softly once before pulling away to suck at the base of his throat. He bites down sharply and Harry’s hips lift of the bed as he whimpers.

Louis grins and his hands go to Harry’s hair automatically. He pulls on a test strand and it becomes obvious that Harry’s still as affected as he was in the airplane when he whines throatily.

He pulls away then, hesitant. “Are you—is this a thing for you? Me being in—I don’t want to say control, I guess but like, having the upper hand I suppose? Do you like it? Is it something we need to talk about?”

Harry’s eyes are glassy when they meet his. “I don’t really—I’ve never—fuck, Louis, I don’t know. Can you just—like fuck me? Please?” He begs and Louis’ breath catches in his throat.

“I can—yeah, I can do that,” Louis agrees and Harry beams at him before pulling him down into a bruising kiss. Louis reaches for the bottom of Harry’s shirt and Harry pushes himself into his elbows so Louis can get it off.

“I like your tattoos,” Louis murmurs absently, tracing the swallows on his chest and when he looks up, Harry’s eyes are rimmed red and there are dark veins under his eyes. Louis pulls back immediately and Harry blinks in confusion before his eyes widen.

“Fuck,” Harry mutters before frowning. Louis hesitates before reaching out to brush his thumb underneath Harry’s left eye.

“Are you—are you okay?” Louis asks, voice cracking and Harry curses softly under his breath again before shaking his head.

“I—um, I have this eye condition. It does that sometimes. I’m sorry,” He apologizes, biting on his bottom lip and Louis’ finger traces over the veins lightly. He feels them sink under the pads of his fingers and then Harry’s face looks normal again.

“You don’t have to apologize. As long as you’re alright, yeah?” Louis checks and Harry gives a slow, careful nod. Louis smiles then and presses his lips against the spot beneath Harry’s left eye before reaching down to pull off his own shirt.

Then he slides down the bed, pressing his lips against the tense muscles of Harry's stomach. Louis keeps going until he gets to the waistband of Harry’s jeans. He unbuttons them and tugs on them lightly. When he looks up, Harry’s covering his face with a pillow and Louis frowns.

He hopes the eye condition doesn’t make Harry insecure about himself because he’s never met someone as beautiful as Harry is and it would be a shame if he didn’t know it.

So he pulls down Harry’s jeans and then bites a bruise into his thigh until he moves the pillow. When he does, Louis forcefully says, “You don’t need to hide your face, alright? I don’t mind. You’re still the prettiest boy I’ve ever seen,” and accentuates by giving him a bite or a lick after every word.

Harry just whines quietly and makes a show of keeping the pillow on the side. That gives Louis an idea and he smirks before shaking his head. “Turn over, will you? And put the pillow underneath you.”

The look Harry gives him is one of raw want and it makes something spark inside of Louis, a flash of heat that goes straight to his stomach. Harry follows his instructions and Louis bites another bruise into the skin on the back of Harry’s thigh before pulling down his underwear.

Harry’s thighs are shaking underneath him and Louis grabs onto his waist, holding him in place. “Can you stay still for me, love?” Louis asks and this time he isn’t even mocking Harry.

The younger boy does what he’s told, almost too obediently and Louis decides they _have_ to talk about that later. But right now, he scoots further up on the bed and bites playfully on one of Harry’s arse cheeks before spreading them apart.

He exhales and Harry whimpers as Louis tentatively licks the skin there. The noise makes him redouble his efforts and he thrusts his tongue in. Harry’s making obscene noises into the bed sheet and when Louis licks into him particularly rough, he mewls.

Louis has to shove a hand in his own pants and grab the base of his cock to make sure he doesn’t come before he’s even gotten the chance to fuck Harry.

He pulls back and admires the spit slick hole for a second before he goes back in. He spreads the cheeks further apart and slackens his jaw so he can get more of his tongue inside.

Louis flattens his tongue and presses it against the rim while his hands knead into the flesh of Harry’s arse. When he hears the first sob escape Harry’s lips, he pulls back immediately but then he sees how hard Harry’s cock is where it’s pressing up against his stomach and realizes Harry is crying from how _good_ it feels.

He’d say something to him if he didn’t like it as much as Harry did. He goes back and thrusts his tongue back in, pointing the end and he can feel spit dripping down his chin. He scrunches his nose but apparently that does good things to the angle because Harry’s hips buck and he’s letting out these choked little sobs and muttering something that sounds a lot like, “Please Lou, _please, please, please_ ,” but it’s too incoherent for Louis to confirm.

Louis decides he’s teased Harry enough so he pulls back and sticks two of his own fingers in his mouth, swirling his tongue around them to get them wet before pulling them back out.

He lets one finger enter Harry slowly and the curly haired boy is hiccuping. When Louis looks over at him, his face is buried into a pillow. He puts in another finger soon after and finally Harry is shaking his head, saying, “Please, please just fuck me Lou, c’mon, _please_ ,” and there are tears streaking down his cheeks.

Louis takes his fingers out and crawls over to Harry, slipping his own jeans off as he goes. When he gets to him, he uses his thumb to wipe Harry’s cheeks before murmuring, “Whatever you want, love. Just tell me where the stuff is.”

Harry sniffles and points towards a drawer. Louis leans over and opens it, taking out a packet of lube and a condom. He rolls the condom on and then strokes his cock a few times after he coats his fingers with lube.

“Turn around so I can see you, yeah?” Louis coaxes gently and Harry slowly flips his body over. He’s staring up at Louis with wide, glossy eyes and his lips look kissed raw. His cheeks are flushed pink and still a little wet and Louis has never seen something prettier.

He presses a kiss to Harry’s jaw before lining himself up against Harry’s hole. When he pushes in, Harry’s head falls back and he starts making these small noises like he isn’t even capable of moaning anymore. Louis watches him in awe before he sets his own pace, fucking hard into the taller boy’s body.

Harry doesn’t have any complaints though, nothing escaping his lips except for the occasional mewl of, “ _Lou_.”

Louis reaches his hand in between them and grabs Harry’s cock where it’s pressed against his stomach and flicks his wrist in time to his thrusts.

He lowers his lips to Harry’s throat and bites on a bruise he already left. Harry tilts his head back to give Louis more access and he takes full advantage of it, leaning down to bite on Harry’s collarbone as well.

“Lou, I’m gonna—fuck, I’m gonna come. Can I come? Please let me come,” Harry begs, voice hoarse and Louis is struck by how amazing Harry really is.

“Of course, love, you deserve it,” Louis mutters and Harry manages something like a smile before he’s coming in between them. He clenches around Louis and it only takes a few more sloppy thrusts before Louis comes too.

He just kind of collapses on top of Harry at that point and he presses lazy kisses where he can reach. He knows they’re going to have clean up soon if they don’t want to be sticky and they still have the fajitas Harry made, but he’s tired and he isn’t quite sure when he drifts off.

Louis wakes up to warm sheets and bright lights filtering in. He’s confused for a second because he doesn’t remember his dorm bed being so comfy. He rolls over and stuffs his face into a pillow before realizing it smells like Harry.

He blinks his eyes open and he’s overwhelmed by the new setting. It’s a bedroom, obviously and there’s massive posters along the walls of bands that Louis has never heard of. He thinks he’s probably seen them on Harry’s phone and that would make sense since Louis is coming to realization that this is Harry’s room and he’s in Harry’s house.

He’s suddenly very thankful it’s Saturday and he doesn’t have any classes. Louis looks down at himself and he’s very naked but he’s covered by a blanket so he supposes it’s alright. He’s also clean, which is a plus he didn’t expect.

The other side of the bed is still warm so Louis assumes Harry can’t be far. He carefully climbs out of the bed and pulls on the first pair of pants he sees. Then he grabs a jumper that belongs to Harry and puts that on too before slipping out of the room.

The house is different in the light. Not less pretty but much easier to navigate. Louis instantly spots a staircase and absently wonders how Harry managed to carry him up those without him noticing.

He hears voices from where he assumes the kitchen to be. He can smell pancakes and he decides that he’s probably going to marry Harry or something because he’s the perfect housewife but much prettier.

When he’s close enough, he starts to hear tidbits of a conversation and it isn’t his fault that he starts to listen when he hears his name.

“—and Louis stayed over,” is what he hears first and he recognizes the voice as Liam’s.

“That would explain why when I went to get an extra bag for Liam to drink, there was no one there,” someone else says and Louis pinpoints that voice as Zayn. This explains where his roommate is all the time.

“You’re both really nosy,” Another voice says and there’s a sizzle of a frying pan. Louis knows that voice by heart and it’s Harry’s.

“I have the right to be nosy—“ Liam starts but then Zayn cuts him off.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you and lover boy got up to. We smell things Haz. Remember that? Or did Louis manage to fuck your actual brains out?”

There’s a snort and then another sizzle followed by a silence. “Neither of you are cute,” Harry mutters and Louis realizes he’s kind of just lingering in the hallway but he isn’t ready to enter the kitchen yet.

“Aw, but you are. Look at this, our little boy is growing up,” Zayn coos to Liam who laughs a throaty chuckle in response.

He can almost hear Harry’s pout. “I’m older than _both_ of you,” Harry snaps and Louis blinks in surprise at that. He’s pretty sure Harry is nineteen and he doesn’t know how old Liam is but Zayn is twenty so he hasn’t got a clue as to what Harry is talking about.

“Yes, yes, we know,” Zayn replies airily and then someone gets up to walk over to the sink. Louis hears a plate clatter and then the faucet turns on.

“In all seriousness though, is it like—are you going to tell him?” Liam asks and there’s a cutthroat silence as the faucet shuts off. No one says anything and Louis wonders what Harry has to tell him.

There’s a clatter of another plate but this time the faucet doesn’t run. “I don’t know. I—do you think I should? I don’t want to put the rest of you in danger,” Harry softly says after a while. Louis doesn’t like how nervous his voice sounds.

“Do you trust him?” Liam asks and Louis waits with bated breath to see what Harry’s going to say.

“Yeah. I do,” Harry confesses and Louis feels something like warmth bloom in his chest. “But I wouldn’t know how to tell him.”

“Let him figure it out himself. I’m sure he knows how to use Google. Just drop a few hints,” Zayn offers but he sounds more distant now, like he’s moved further away.

Harry snorts and then someone opens the fridge. “Like what? He saw my eyes last night—I told him it was a medical condition, I didn’t know what else to say. He’s seen our rings and my necklace. He knows we’re all a bunch of freaks thanks to his friend Stan. There’s nothing else to tell him that wouldn’t be just telling him the truth,” Harry informs and his voice is a mix of amused and conflicted.

“Does Stan know?” Liam wonders as the fridge shuts. Someone pours something into a cup and then Harry answers.

“He might. He thinks I’m a maneater—which, well. You know. But I think he knows more than that. Could be part of the whole anti-v group for all I know and _they_ know the truth,” Harry answers, voice flat with defeat and Louis hears Liam sigh.

“That wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself for it. Either ways, then yeah, drops a few hints. I don’t know. Tell him you kill furry animals or something,” Liam suggests and Zayn snorts from wherever he is.

“I don’t kill furry animals, Liam,” Harry deadpans and Liam laughs.

“I know. But it can’t take _that_ much effort to out yourself. Make him talk to Stan or something. Maybe he’ll tell him.”

Harry sighs again. “What if he hates me afterwards?” and this time his voice is so sad that Louis’ own heart feels like it’s cracking in his chest.

“He won’t. You’re Harry. No one that knows you hates you,” Zayn reminds helpfully and Louis decides he’s heard enough. He makes a show of walking down the hall, loud footsteps and all and the kitchen is silent when he gets to it. It’s just Harry sitting at the table when he comes and he offers Louis a smile and points towards a plate filled with food.

“Made you breakfast,” Harry informs and Louis feels a smile come to him easily. The conversation that he just heard hasn’t slipped his mind completely but he decides it can wait for a while.

“Have my babies,” Louis replies, before dropping into the seat in front of Harry. He gets the reaction he aimed for and Harry giggles, ducking his head before looking up with a smile.

“Sadly, that’s not possible.” Harry reminds before he quickly amends, “Yet,” and Louis laughs himself. He looks down at his plate then and there’s a heap of pancakes along with a side of eggs and even bacon. He gives Harry an impressed look.

Harry’s response is just to duck his head again, a shy smile on his lips and his dimples look etched into his skin. Louis leans forward to poke one of them and Harry’s smile grows.

“I packed the fajitas for you, by the way,” Harry tells him, nodding towards some tupperware on the counter and Louis raises an eyebrow.

“Thanks. About last night, we need to talk,” Louis reminds, thinking briefly of how easily Harry submits to him before stabbing his fork into one of the pancakes. He reaches for the syrup but then he sees Harry’s expression and stops. He’s quite literally frozen on the spot and his face looked so alarmed it’s almost comical.

Louis nudges Harry’s hand playfully before grabbing the syrup and pouring it over his waffles. “Don’t look so scared, mate. Just thought it was something we need to talk about,” Louis explains before setting the syrup down.

Harry’s face crumples a little at that and Louis furrows his eyebrows. “Is it something you don’t want to talk about? I just thought, you know, it would be best to be prepared. I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Louis clarifies softly, before putting a forkful of the pancakes into his mouth.

He has to restrain himself from moaning from how good it tastes because he doesn’t think it’s appropriate with the way Harry looks like he’s crushed.

“I—yeah, I can leave you alone if that’s what you want,” Harry mutters and his voice cracks. Louis gives him a strange look.

“What are you talking about? Why would I want that?” Louis wonders, eating another mouthful. He’s tempted to just shove his face in the plate—if he’d known Harry cooks this well he might’ve forgone the sex entirely. But then he thinks back to last night and thinks, _nah_.

“I understand if you’re scared. I didn’t know you _knew_ but yeah, if you’re afraid of getting hurt I can leave you alone,” Harry continues and Louis stares at him in disbelief.

He drops his fork onto his plate and reaches over to cover Harry’s mouth with his hand. Harry stops talking immediately and Louis rolls his eyes.

“ _That_ ’s what we need to talk about. I don’t know what you’re thinking of Harry, but I just meant when we’re—you know. You always let me lead or whatever, I guess and you’re really quick to listen to me. I don’t really know how the dynamics of it work but if you’re into the whole thing, I don’t mind doing some research.” Louis shrugs and takes another bite of what’s left on his fork.

“Wait, are we—are we talking about sex?” Harry asks after a beat of silence and Louis arches one of his eyebrows.

“Yes?” Louis replies, raising his fork to his mouth again and Harry’s eyes track the motion before focusing on Louis’ face.

“I—oh. Well.” Harry looks incredibly relieved actually and Louis kicks his ankle under the table. He just comes to the realization that he isn’t wearing any socks and that Harry’s really cold.

“Well?” Louis prods and shivers when he feels Harry’s bare feet against his calf.

Harry shrugs, reaching over to steal one of the pieces of bacon on Louis’ plate. “It doesn’t really matter to me, I guess. I just like what I like. And I like you being in control, I guess. I like feeling safe, and you make me feel safe,” He admits, eyes downcast and Louis holds back the noise that wants to leave his throat.

“It is like,” Louis pauses to clear his throat before continuing, “You like being told what to do? Or just being taken care of?”

Harry's ankle wraps around his before he answers. “Both, I guess? I like being told what to do. I like, I don’t know, making people happy, I suppose. But I also like being taken care of, like you said. I’m a giver, as opposed to a taker? Or maybe the opposite? I don’t know, I’ve never really talked about it before,” Harry admits, lips twisting into a frown that sits adorably on his face.

Louis thinks about his words carefully before he asks, “Is it like—I haven’t read the book Fifty Shades of Gray but is it like that? The whole dominant and submissive thing?”

Harry shrugs. “I don’t like being hit or anything, but I guess. I like taking orders and I like not being the one in control. Giving it away to someone else. And I do like pain, just not—I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Has no one ever asked you before?” Louis wonders, absently taking another bite of his pancakes.

Harry shrugs again and shakes his head. “No one sticks around long enough to question my likes and dislikes,” Harry mutters and then laughs deprecatingly.

Louis decides he’s forced Harry to talk about enough and pushes his plate away from him despite it only being half empty. “Well, you’re not going to be getting rid of me anytime soon,” Louis promises, reaching the table to tap Harry on the nose.

Harry smiles and playfully snaps his teeth at Louis’ finger before picking up the plate of food and walking over to the sink. Louis hears him scrape the rest of the food into the trash and then the plate clatters into the sink.

As he’s doing that, Louis hears the sound of feet thumping against the stairs. He looks up to see Niall making his way down, a jacket slung over his shoulder.

“Hey Harry, I’m off to the hospital for some blood ba—oh shit.” Niall’s eyes land on Louis and he falters in his step.

Louis gives him a confused look and glances over at Harry who has one of his hands slapped over his face while he shakes his head. “Idiot,” Harry mutters and Niall fumbles awkwardly for a second.

“Blood donation. I—yeah. Going to the hospital to give some blood. Okay, I’m just going to—okay. Bye Louis, I’ll see you around,” Niall offers awkwardly, coupled with a wave before he disappears into one of the many doors that lead out of the kitchen.

“Don’t listen to a single word that comes of Niall’s mouth, ever,” Harry advises, peaking at him through his fingers and Louis snorts.

“Alright, Captain Styles,” Louis mumbles and grabs the glass of orange juice that’s on the table. He briefly notices there’s glass similar to his next to the sink.

At first Louis doesn’t spare it a second glance but then when he catches it in his eyesight again, he squints. He’s never seen any type of juice that dark but Harry doesn’t seem to notice because he picks up the glass and drinks it down in one swallow.

Louis watches his Adam’s apple bob and then he notices that the marks he left the night before are gone. He blinks in surprise but then forgets about it a moment later when Harry asks him if he wants his tupperware in a bag or not.

He only remembers again later when he’s at his dorm, half asleep. It’s a passing thought before he knocks out.

—

Louis swears he was doing his homework but somehow he ended up on Google and now he’s typing in random shit like _is it normal for the guy I’m dating to have red eyes and veins under them_ and _is it possible that the guy I’m dating is in a creepy cult_. It isn’t really as random as he wants it to seem.

He clicks on one of the links that show up on both google searches and it’s a link to someone online forum thing.

Louis isn’t sure how he ends up in a group chat, but suddenly there he is. He hesitates only briefly before typing in.

 **Tommo** : Hello ?

 **Claudia** : Hi!

 **Demi** : Helllllllllo.

 **Lexi** : ayyyyyyy lmao

 **Emina** : who tf is this

 **Tommo** : Right, okay . So you guys are familiar with guys who do creepy shit like the forum said ?

 **Katarina** : w/ what, the whole eye vein thingy?

 **Vicky** : oh right I totally forgot what this forum was about lmao oops

 **Zyla** : we don’t even talk about what we’re supposed to half the time tbh

 **Tommo** : the eye vein thingy – what is that ?

 **Demi** : usually it means they’re hungry and shit. right guys?

 **Lexi** : right right

 **Andie** : sometimes it means lust tho

 **Leah** : the vamps can’t really control it tbh

 **Tommo** : the vamps ?

 **Chelsea** : the vampires ???? that’s why you’re here isn’t it

 **Tommo** : I don’t really know ..

 **Livvy** : oh my god he doesn’t even KNOW

 **Cassi** : AMAZIGN

 **Nandini** : guys don’t be mean we have to help him out c’mon

 **Elizabeth** : how do we even know it’s a him.

 **Tommo** : I am a him but that doesn’t help me ?

 **Gabby** : can the guy you’re talking about go out in the sun

 **Tommo** : Yeah .why ?

 **Katlyn** : well that changes things lmao

 **Ally** : alright alright does your guy wear a ring on his finger or not

 **Tommo** : I’ve seen him wear a ring maybe like once or twice .

 **Carlie** : how about a necklace?

 **Claudia** : Necklaces work too!

 **Tommo** : yeah. He does wear a necklace .what does that mean ?

 **Crystal** : does it have a blue stone ?

 **Sara** : the stone starts with an L but hell if I remember

 **Vicky** : lapis lazuli !!!

 **Tommo** : Actually yeah it does .how did you know ?

 **Kristen** : get on our level, we know everything at this point

 **Holly** : if he has the necklace, he’s definitely one of the vamps

 **Alma** : I think you guys are scaring him omg

 **Tommo** : what do you mean ‘one of the vamps’ ?

 **Emina** : your boyfriend’s a vampire dude get with the fucking program

 **Ally** : emina don’t be so rude he’s a guest

 **Chelsea** : sorry on her behalf but like seriously

 **Tommo** : a vampire ? those don’t exist ……….

 **Kayla** : wait TF what the hell just happened oh God

 **Gabby** : I’m laughing so hard I can’t breathe o my gdo

 **Livvy** : that’s what we all thought at first

 **Cassi** : yet here we are

 **Tommo** : oh I get it ,you’re all a bunch of teenage girls that have nothing better to do than make up some silly story about vampires . what a fucking joke !

 **Andie** : but we’re not kidding!

 **Leah** : dude we’re being serious

 **Emina** : if you don’t believe us take a fucking hike but when your boyfriend nearly kills you don’t be shocked

 **TOMMO HAS BEEN BANNED FROM ‘THE VAMPS CHAT’**.

Louis looks at his screen baffled before he has the good sense to close the browser. He takes a good minute to think about what was said and then he decides he has no reason to believe a bunch of teenage girls on the internet with a vampire fetish.

In the back of his mind, he thinks the girls have no reason to lie to him. He’s also annoyed with himself for not being nicer so he could stick around and ask more questions, but now what’s done is done.

His next option is to text Stan. He isn’t sure if he’s ready to resort to that yet. Instead, Louis goes through a few seedy sites for the next few hours but when nothing else comes up that fits with his situation remotely, he gives up and slams his laptop shut.

Louis thinks about what’s happened for a moment in the past two months of his life and lets himself consider the vampire possibility. It’s ridiculous because vampires are just a folklore of course but it would make a _little_ sense.

At that point, he realizes he’s actually lost his mind and he’s considering the possibility that Harry is a vampire. He needs to be admitted into an asylum or something.

He sighs and then he picks up his phone. He’s about to text Stan when a new text from Harry comes up on the screen.

_Meet at Nina’s bakery in an hour? Still need to buy you that red velvet cupcake .x_

Louis faces his lips curl into a smile unintentionally as he remembers their last date where Harry set up a picnic and for dessert he said there was a surprise. It turned out that he forgot the cupcakes he baked at home and when he called Niall, his face turned an impressive shade of pink.

“Next time,” Harry promised after apologizing profusely but Louis was too busy laughing to reply because Niall apparently came home to an explosion in the kitchen and Harry’s cupcakes splattered on the kitchen walls.

It seems next time is right now though so Louis types back a thumbs up emoji followed by the yellow heart because once Harry called him sunshine and it was so ridiculous Louis had to make fun of it.

So Louis pulls on a jumper that he probably nicked off of Harry and some jeans that he finds on the ground. They could actually be Zayn’s but it’s November and Louis is pretty sure he’s won the younger boy over with his charm (and his subscription to Netflix might’ve helped as well) so he won’t mind.

The bakery is just a few blocks off campus and Louis doesn’t mind the walk there. Usually Harry accompanies him on these walks though so it’s a bit lonely. It’s nearly dark outside but not quite there yet. It will be by the time he gets to Nina’s though.

It’s nippier than usual outside and the tip of his nose feels cold. Louis rubs his palms together briefly before blowing hot air over them. It does little to help.

Despite the cold weather, November has actually been a surprisingly good month for Louis. All his teachers, for once, are besotted with him and he has the top grades in class. He’s regularly going on dates with the loveliest boy he’s ever met—and regularly getting sex on top of that. He feels good. November is being good to him and he appreciates it.

As soon as he gets off campus, the sun is gone. It’s dark and street lights are turning on. Louis thinks London is prettier in the dark though so he doesn’t have any complaints.

When he gets to Nina’s, the sign is dim but he can see the owner Nina through the window and he waves. She waves back with a smile before going back to cleaning the counter.

Louis decides to wait outside for Harry and he checks his phone for the time. He’s a few minutes early so he shrugs and leans against the wall.

That’s when he hears the crying.

It’s quiet at first and Louis doesn’t notice but softly it gets louder and louder until he hears it. He turns around in surprise but there’s no one around him. The crying is still increasing in volume and Louis realizes it’s coming from the alley a few feet away.

He hesitantly starts to walk towards the alley and stops when he gets to the mouth of it. He squints and he can see a small figure on the ground, bundled up in a blanket. It’s a girl, he realizes, and she’s crying softer now.

Louis takes a slow step forward, careful not to startle her. “Hey, are you alright?”

The girl starts at the voice and wraps herself further into her blanket. She’s still sniffling so Louis takes another step. “Do you need me to call someone? The police? An ambulance?” He tries and the girl doesn’t reply, just whimpering softly.

Louis frowns and takes few steps to get closer to the girl. He can actually see her now and he realizes it’s more of a young woman than a girl. Her head is ducked down but her blonde hair is matted with blood and dirt.

He’s immediately alarmed and he tries to talk to her again. “Are you hurt? I can get you help, if you need it. You don’t need to be scared. I won’t hurt you,” He whispers softly and then her crying isn’t crying anymore.

It’s laughing, a quiet chuckling that sends shivers down Louis’ back. The girl looks up then and his first thought is that she looks familiar. Then her entire face changes and her eyes are rimmed red, dark veins underneath her eyes.

Louis takes a startled step back but it doesn’t matter because in seconds he’s pinned against the other side of the alley. The girl grins and her teeth are sharp. “I don’t think you could hurt me if you tried, love,” She tells him and Louis doesn’t even have the wits to struggle.

He clenches his eyes shut and waits for the pain that never comes. Instead, there’s no one in front of him. He hears a loud thud and he opens his eyes abruptly.

Harry’s standing in front of him with his back to Louis. He’s growling and the girl is lying at his feet, head ducked down.

“Don’t fucking touch him,” Harry spits out, reaching for the girl but then he freezes as she looks up at him. Louis is too shocked to register what’s even happening but he sees Harry’s hand drop limply at his side.

Then there’s a beat of silence before, “ _Gemma_?” and the girl lets out a breathless laugh before she’s up in a second and on top of Harry.

Louis is ready to scream for help but then he realizes she’s _hugging_ Harry, arms wrapped tightly around his neck. The scarier part is that he’s hugging her back, almost incredulously.

“Harry!” The girl—Gemma—exclaims in delight, pulling back to smack a kiss on Harry’s cheek. Louis feels a hot flare of jealousy at the pit of his stomach but he tells himself to get over it because a stupid cheek kiss isn’t what he should be worried about after he just almost _died_.

“You’re—what are you doing here?” Harry asks dubiously and Gemma rolls her eyes, crossing her arms before fixing him with a half hearted glare.

“Well I was _trying_ to have a snack but you got in the way. Which reminds me, why is he still here? I figured he’d run away by now,” Gemma says thoughtfully, eyes flickering over to Louis.

Louis just stares back with a mixture of horror and disbelief. Harry looks back then too and his eyes are soft. He licks his lips before turning back to the girl, Gemma.

“You’re _always_ doing this, Gemma. Why do you always have to scare off my boyfriends?” Harry complains sullenly and Louis’ eyes widen at that.

“Boyfriend?” Both Louis and Gemma say at the same time—Louis’ voice is one of wonder and Gemma’s is one of excitement.

“Did I just—okay, that isn’t the _point_. Gemma, there’s plenty of blood bags in our house, why didn’t you just come there?” Harry asks in accusatory voice, crossing his own arms and Gemma looks sheepish before shrugging.

“Don’t act so high and mighty, Haz. You may be my baby brother but I know _all_ your tricks,” She reminds, smug and Louis realizes this is Gemma, Harry’s _sister_.

He’s pretty sure he’s just made the worst first impression a person can make ever. Or maybe she did, considering she almost tried to kill him.

Then a string of thoughts make themselves clear in Louis’ head. First, Harry is a vampire. Second, Louis is a dumbass. Third, Louis is also unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. Fourth, he’s pretty sure he just quoted the back of the Twilight book.

He is so fucking screwed.

Harry sighs before he mutters, “I haven’t. Since Louis. I haven’t.”

Louis narrows his eyes at that because what the _hell_ is that supposed to mean. Harry has some _serious_ explaining to do. Also, Louis is pretty sure he should’ve run away by now screaming for help but he’s rooted to the spot.

Gemma’s expression brightens at that. “Seriously? Are you—is he on vervain?” She cuts herself off, eyes flitting over to Louis again.

Harry nods shortly and Gemma pouts. “Great,” She mutters, putting her hands on her hips and Louis hears Harry chuckle shortly.

“I had to. The boys kept compelling him to forget stuff. I didn’t want _everything_ to be a lie.”

Gemma’s eyebrows shoot into her hairline and Louis wonders if it would hurt Harry if he punched him because he thinks he just might. He knew Harry was strange but Louis thinks that he would mention being a vampire after the third date or so.

Louis is a mix of pissed off and amazed. His—boyfriend?—is a vampire. How the fuck is that even _possible_. It explains a lot though, like Harry’s eye condition and Louis wonders if it means he’s hungry. If he was hungry all those times he saw Harry’s eyes turn that way.

Then another thought comes to Louis and he registers that his boyfriend-thing drinks blood from humans—for all Louis knows he _kills_ humans. It’s possible Louis is suffering a mental breakdown.

While he starts to contemplate his life, the conversation in front of him keeps going.

“You’re kidding. All for one guy?” Gemma asks in disbelief and Harry flushes. Louis isn’t really listening because he’s a bit preoccupied but he does catch the next line.

“He’s not just some guy, Gem. He’s Louis and I—care for him a lot. You don’t know him but I do and I’ve never—Gem, I’ve never felt like this before. Not with Will, not with James, not with _anyone_. He’s so fucking amazing, Gemma,” Harry whispers and Louis felt his heart clench pathetically in his chest.

The horror dawns at him that he’s basically another Bella Swan—how has this become his _life_?

Gemma’s face softens and a small smile falls on her lips. “I’ve never seen you like this,” She murmurs softly, eyes curious.

Harry laughs quietly, shaking his head. “Probably because it’s never happened before,” He reminds and then he points an accusatory finger at her. “Meanwhile, you have explaining to do.”

Gemma grins at that and shrugs. “I don’t really think so. I think _you_ have some explaining to do. Your boyfriend over there looks like he’s about pass out so I’m going to guess you haven’t told him anything yet,” She sing-songs and ruffles Harry’s hair. “I’ll see you back at your house in a few hours.”

Then she’s gone, disappearing in front of Louis’ eyes in a second. There’s an awkward moment of silence before Harry turns to him slowly. “Right. Let’s—do you still want to go to Nina’s? We can talk there,” Harry offers quietly, biting his bottom lip nervously.

Louis kind of stares at him blankly before the question registers and he nods slowly. Harry offers him his hand and Louis hesitates before taking it. He feels Harry’s squeeze gently and he squeezes back.

Harry leads them out of the alley and over to the entrance to Nina’s. He pushes the door open and Nina looks up from the counter with a raised eyebrow. “Causing quite a ruckus out there, aren’t you,” She comments and Louis watches Harry shrug.

“Gemma’s in town,” Harry answers, walking over to the booth in the back of the room.

Nina laughs before she asks, “Did she try to eat your boyfriend?” with a mischievous smile and Harry glowers at her.

“I’m guessing you heard more than the so-called ruckus,” Harry replies drily and Nina laughs again before reaching up to push her brown hair out of her face.

“When you’ve been around for two hundred years, you learn to listen,” and she doesn’t say anything else, just winking at Louis before disappearing into the backroom in a blink of an eye.

Louis’ mouth falls open slightly and he incredulously asks, “Is _everyone_ a vampire?”

Harry turns back to him, eyes wide before he gestures towards the booth. “I think you should take a seat first,” He explains and Louis rolls his eyes before sliding into one side of the booth.

There’s a moment of tension before Harry slides into the other side and folds his hands on top of each other. “Right. Okay. Um. I’ve never done this—do you have any questions?”

Louis gives him a dubious look. “What do you mean do I have any questions? You’re a fucking—” Louis starts to yell before he thinks better of it and whispers the word, “Vampire.”

Harry cracks a small smile at that. “That wasn’t a question.”

“My fist won’t be a question,” Louis grumbles to himself before lowering his eyes to the table. “I feel like I’m in Twilight.”

This time Harry laughs and hides his face with one of his hands. “Please, don’t ever let Zayn hear that. He’ll cry. Plus, what’s so special about that Bella girl anyways? Edward’s so whipped.”

Louis answers before thinking about it, “You have to read the first book first, it won’t make sense if you don’t.” Then he can’t help but ask, “How come you don’t sparkle?”

Harry peeks out from behind his fingers and he laughs again. “Because I live in the real world where vampires burn in the sun,” he answers.

That doesn’t satisfy Louis so keeps pushing. “Yeah, but you go in the sun,” he reminds, furrowing his eyebrows and Harry’s hand drops to the collar of his shirt.

He pulls out the paper plane necklace with the blue stone. “I have a necklace. Long story.”

Louis stares at it and his fingers itch to reach out and touch. Harry seems to understand because his fingers go to the back of neck and he unclasps it, before lowering it to the table. He slides it in Louis’ direction. He hesitates before picking it up and staring at it.

“It’s beautiful,” Louis murmurs and the _just like you_ goes unsaid. He lets go of it after a moment and slides it back to Harry. The curly haired boy takes it and puts it back on before flipping his hair out of his eyes.

Harry’s always looked so young but now that Louis knows he isn’t he wonders exactly how old he is. His life is really turning into Twilight. He hates Lottie for making him read the books because now he can’t stop making stupid parallels.

“How old are you?” Louis wonders and he thinks his hands might be shaking. Harry must notice because after a moment’s hesitation, they close on top of Louis’.

“Nineteen,” Harry answers, chewing on his bottom lip and Louis feels that his hands are shaking a little too.

“How long have you been nineteen?” Louis presses and he knows he’s quite literally word for word quoting Twilight now but Harry makes it so easy.

Harry catches on because he smiles before he says, “A while.” But then he adds on, “I was born in 1556.”

Louis stares at him in disbelief and does the math in his head before announcing, “You’re four hundred and fifty seven years old.”

The curly haired boy nods and ducks his head. “Is that scary for you?”

Louis has to take a deep breath before answering. “This is all a bit scary,” Louis admits before continuing, “I’m not though. Scared, that is. I probably should be.”

Harry meets his eyes then and shakes his head. “You love trouble,” Harry murmurs and his finger brushes over the bracelet that he indirectly gave Louis by leaving on his desk.

He glances down at it before looking back at Harry. “What’s this then?” He asks, pointedly staring at the bracelet and Harry sighs quietly.

“It’s a vervain bracelet. It protects you,” Harry explains, shrugging.

Louis doesn’t budge. “From what?”

Harry gives him a flat look but then he continues nonetheless. “Compulsion. We can do that—compel people to do whatever we want.”

Louis stares blankly for a few seconds before repeating, “Whatever you want?” in a small voice and Harry nods.

“Anything. I’ve never seen a limit as to how far it can go,” Harry says and Louis can feel his leg jigging up and down underneath the table.

“Have you ever done that to me?” Louis asks quietly because he isn’t sure how he’ll feel if Harry says yes. He’s still completely overwhelmed by everything that’s going on in general and despite what the girls in the forum told him in the forum, he didn’t think they were being _serious_. He didn’t think any of it was serious.

“Once, yeah. When I kissed you the first time. I made you keep your eyes closed and then I made you wait until I left to open them. That’s it,” Harry promises and his voice is fierce now, strong and holding. Louis meets his gaze and there’s a fire in them he’s never seen before. It’s not a scary type of fire though. It’s the same fire that Louis gets when someone insults one of his little sisters or someone pushes his mum too roughly while they’re grocery shopping.

It’s a fire he’s come to associate with the feeling of love and he feels faint at the thought of Harry loving him.

“I believe you,” Louis tells him when the fire starts to die out into a more defeated look. “Is—are there other vampires? Is that why you gave me the bracelet?”

Harry nods, licking his lips. “Sorry to say, love but I think nearly everyone you met in the last few months is a vampire. The boys are.”

Louis’ eyes widen and he suspected this a little but to have it confirmed is an entirely different thing. “The boys as in Zayn and Niall? Liam?” Louis interjects and Harry nods again. He curses under his breath in surprise and then looks up at Harry though his fringe. “How’d you guys meet?”

Harry bristles quietly before he clears his throat. “They all have their own stories but I won’t tell you them because it’s not mine to tell. I’ll tell you my story though, if you want to hear it. It includes them.”

Louis doesn’t hesitate to nod quickly. “The floor is yours,” Louis states and he hooks his ankle around Harry’s to stop his leg from bouncing. Harry gives him a grateful sort of smile and then he begins.

“I was nineteen and it was the year 1575. I worked in a bakery, actually. That’s ironic. But yeah, I had my mum and my sister Gemma and that’s it. My dad left when we were young and it wasn’t uncommon then. My mum took care of the both of us the best she could and I think we turned out alright. She’s amazing, my mum. But anyways, it was a summer night and I was helping my mum cook dinner. Gemma wasn’t home because she’d gone off with some her friends so we weren’t really worried about her. We probably should have been. It was getting late and she still didn’t come and I remember my mum said she was going to wait up for Gem and I insisted I did too.” Harry pauses and Louis just nods encouragingly.

“She got home in the middle of the night. I remember that my mum and I both fell asleep but I woke up when I heard a crashing noise in the kitchen. I got up to investigate and it was Gemma who was digging through the pantry. When she saw me, she turned and yelled that she was hungry and I just kind of stared at her blankly before telling her to be quiet because our mum was sleeping but then she just kept repeating she was hungry while walking closer to me. I didn’t really expect it when she attacked me but suddenly her teeth were in my neck and I started screaming. I guess my mum heard because she ran into the kitchen and when Gemma saw her, she dropped me and went attack her. I tried to stop her but I was too weak to do anything.”

Harry’s expression is sad now so Louis squeezes his handd and Harry looks up to give him a small smile before he continues.

“I woke up to the taste of blood in my mouth and when I opened my eyes it was Gemma and she had her wrist in my mouth. I immediately freaked out and moved away but she kept staring at me sadly. I looked over at my mum and she was still unconscious but I could see blood on her lips too. I yelled at Gemma, asking her what the hell she was doing and then she started crying, saying how she got attacked the night before and how she died. I just kept staring at her because to me, at the time it seemed like she was losing her mind. I didn’t understand how she could be dead if she was sitting in front of me crying her eyes out. I wasn’t sure what else to do so I gave her a hug.” Harry stops, sighing before he continues. “And she snapped my neck.”

Louis gasps quietly and Harry laughs before shaking his head. “I woke up again though, this time in a bed. My mum was standing over me and she was completely fine. I asked her what happened and she just smiled at me sadly before saying we were both dead. I thought I lost my fucking mind. Then I realized I had an irrational itch in the back of my throat—a thirst for _something_ but I didn’t know what.”

“It was blood,” Louis comes to the realization and Harry nods.

“I ended up drinking a stranger’s blood but I knew what I was doing and I didn’t kill them. Gemma apologized profusely. My mum is a better person than most so she forgave her but I can hold a grudge for a while. Better known as a week before I forgave her.” Harry smiles and rolls his eyes.

“After that, we left. We used to live in Holmes Chapel in Cheshire but we didn’t want to raise any suspicion. We discovered ourselves after that, our powers, what we could do and what we couldn’t. Gemma learned the hard way that we couldn’t be in the sun. She still winces every time someone opens window blinds too abruptly.”

Louis feels bad about interrupting but he does anyways. “What powers?”

Harry grins like he expected that question. He probably did. “It isn’t individual to anyone, really. We all have super strength, super speed, super agility. All those things. Then there’s emotional control but I don’t know all that much about it. I’ve only turned my emotions off once and then Zayn beat the shit out of me until I turned it back on,” Harry muses before seeing Louis’ horrified expression and backtracking.

“Turning off your emotions is like turning off who you are. It turns you into someone who doesn’t care about anything or anyone. Some people can control it but others can’t and I needed Zayn to help me turn it back on so it’s alright,” Harry assures.

Louis just grimaces. “Continue, please,” Louis asks instead and Harry does just that.

“Dream manipulation. Haven’t really done my fair share of that either but I hear it’s fun. There’s mind compulsion that I already told you about but basically we can make you forget things and alter your memory but also ask you to do things and as long as you aren’t on vervain you’ll do as we say. No one’s compelled you though since you got that bracelet, as long as you haven't taken it off.”

Louis shakes his head at that. “I don’t,” He confirms and Harry smiles.

“I’m glad. But anyways, we’re immortal. I mean, we can be killed but as long as we’re not, we won’t die. What else is there? Uh, we can heal quickly which is pretty sad actually because I like the bruises you leave,” Harry says with a pout and Louis’ eyes light up in understanding. That explains why he never sees any of his marks on Harry.

“We have our fangs,” Harry adds, then tilts his head. “We’re also pretty durable. But I can’t think of anything else except for maybe excellent memory. That’s about it.”

Louis stares at Harry in wonder, before admitting, “I always figured you weren’t real.”

Harry giggles quietly at that before shrugging. “I suppose I’m not."

There’s another silence before Louis nudges Harry’s foot. “Continue your story,” Louis murmurs and Harry nods, expression thoughtful before he picks up where he left off.

“Yeah, so after we figured out our powers and stuff, we all decided to go our own ways. We meet up at the beginning of every year though, at our old home. My mum bought the one that used to be there. It’s sentimental or something but now there’s a bungalow and a pool so I’m not complaining. But yeah, we all left in our own ways. I spent about a hundred and fifty years on my own. I learned the ropes. It’s easy to slink into the shadows when you’re a part of them. I couldn’t go out in the daylight then, I didn’t have this,” Harry says, motioning towards his necklace.

“There’s others out there like us but I never really encountered them. I fed in my own way and I never killed those that I drank from. I made them forget afterwards because obviously, I couldn’t have them remember,” Harry shrugs and Louis doesn’t admit that a weight lifts from his shoulders when he hears that Harry doesn’t kill the people that he drinks from.

“I met Niall in mid eighteenth century and when I found him, he was lost. He was newly turned so I helped him out but then he kind of grew on me and he just didn’t leave. We met Liam fifteen years after that and he’d been a vampire for about twenty years. He stuck with us and just didn’t leave either. We were like the three musketeers really and you’ve never seen both of them drunk out of their minds but it’s hilarious.”

“You can get drunk?” Louis interrupts and Harry grins, nodding.

“We can do everything a normal human can, really. As long as we have a healthy diet of blood in our systems, my body functions just like yours except I don’t _need_ food or water. I just enjoy them regardless. Alcohol helps blood cravings though and warm beverages help us stay warm,” Harry explains before going back to his story.

“We met Zayn thirty years after, I think. He was a hundred when we met him, so still younger than me but older than both Niall and Liam. At first, I’m pretty sure he only stayed with us because of Liam. They have their own story but I don’t think they’ll be so open to telling it anytime soon. Either ways, I’m glad Zayn stuck with us. It took him a while to warm up to us, but eventually did. Zayn’s probably the smartest person I’ve ever met. He’s the one that said we should go back to school.”

There’s a pause before, “I’m glad he did because I wouldn’t have met you otherwise.”

Louis feels butterflies in his stomach and he licks dry lips before shaking his head. “I think you’d have found me either ways. Weren’t you the one talking about fate when you found out we went to the same concert?”

Harry lets out a laugh and then nods. “I suppose I am guilty of believing in fate and destiny and all that. I even believe in soul mates and their soulmatery,” Harry informs and Louis gives him a confused look.

“That isn’t a word, mate,” Louis replies and Harry shrugs.

“Is now. Either ways, yeah. Zayn, he’s innovative, bless him. Pretty sure I’d be dead if it weren’t for him. Pretty sure we all would be, really,” Harry says thoughtfully. “An example would be vervain.”

Louis tilts his head in confusion. “The stuff in my bracelet? The weird shit that smells like lemons?”

Harry lets out a startled laugh at that before nodding. “Yeah, that stuff. It’s really a herb and it’s like—wolfsbane to us, I guess. Werewolves hate that stuff and we hate vervain. Or at least, we’re supposed to.”

In response Louis just stares at him dubiously because _werewolves_?

That doesn’t stop Harry from speaking though because he keeps going. “Vervain is sort of like—well, I’m not sure how to put it. One can become resistant to it. The same way you can build resistance towards viruses when you get sick. Except, vervain is a lot more deadly. We can’t actually touch it.”

Then Harry tilts his head, considering before he shrugs. “Well, we can with gloves I think. That’s what Zayn does—but as I was saying. So it’s one of our weaknesses but one day Zayn just walked in with a whole box full of the flowers and said he had a plan. We went with it and he wanted us to try to take little increments every day to see if we could build a resistance. It turns out we _could_ and so now we put it in our tea and stuff. It helps not only for touch-wise but also for the Originals.”

Louis gives him another blank look and Harry catches it this time, the side of his lip quirking up. “The Originals are the original vampires. They can compel normal vampires too and obviously, we don’t want that so we keep ourselves safe. Not that I think they’d hurt us—I’m actually friends with one of them! His name is Kol, yeah, we used to play golf together. I think he has a cut out of me somewhere. It’s a long story for another day. But either ways, Zayn is brilliant for his wonderful ideas and we all thank the heavens every day for it.”

Then Harry shrugs. “I think that’s really it. I don’t know what else to say. Unless you have any questions..?”

Louis racks his mind for anything but he can’t come up with anything. He’s completely overwhelmed by the information he’s just gotten and the fact that vampires are real. That the creatures of the night aren’t just a myth. That brings up a question though, that he had from before.

“You keep saying you couldn’t go out into the sun but now you can with the necklace. I think you said it was a long story? Will you explain?” Louis requests and Harry lets go of one of his hands to play with the necklace.

“We all have it—me and the boys. Most vampires don’t know about it and we do our best to make sure they don’t find out. Those who know just know and those who don’t, just don’t. It can be anything, really as long as you’re always wearing it. You can have more than one but they’re specific to you. Like Niall couldn’t wear my necklace and go into the sun and vice versa. You have to get a witch to cast a spell on the amulet to make it work. We have our friendly neighborhood warlock though, this guy Ed.”

“Hold on, witches? Warlocks? They’re real too?” Louis splutters in disbelief and Harry raises an eyebrow before snorting.

“The world is a scary place,” Harry says cryptically but now it’s not as bleak as he’d like. Louis’ entire life makes a lot more sense now that he’s aware that he’s surrounded by a bunch of vampires.

“Real funny,” Louis intones sarcastically before nudging Harry’s foot again. “Keep going.”

Harry rolls his eyes and kicks back, gentler than Louis. “Alright, alright. As I was saying, Ed, he makes us our daylight amulets. I have this necklace and a ring. We all have rings actually, but Liam and Niall are the ones that tend to wear them. Zayn wears his earrings sometimes instead. I wear my necklace more often than not but it’s still good to have a backup.”

“I feel like I’m being fucked with but I know that I’m not,” Louis mutters, hitting his head on the back of the seat and Harry makes a sad noise.

“I wouldn’t—I didn’t want to lie to you in the first place. But I can’t very well go around announcing I’m a vampire, can I? I would’ve told you but I couldn’t put my family in danger,” Harry apologizes, bottom lip jutting out and Louis sighs.

“It’s not like I blame you. I understand, I guess? It’s just my head hurts if I start thinking about it too much,” Louis admits, shoulders sinking and Harry frowns.

“Don’t think about it then. We don’t need to talk about it. You can save your questions for a rainy day. Unless—unless you want to leave now. I won’t blame you. I just hope you wouldn’t tell anyone what we discussed.”

Louis’ eyes flash at that and he shakes his head. “I’m not going anywhere. I don’t—my feelings don’t change for you just because you’re a vampire. It doesn’t change who you _are_.”

“I know that,” Harry agrees and turns his wrist slightly to remind Louis of his _I can’t change_ tattoo. “But I also know that it’s a lot to take in and I’m not going to force you into staying. I know that it’s hard to understand but I’m doing this for you.”

Louis stares at him blankly for a second before his grip tightens on Harry’s hand and shakes his head. ” _No_ , you don’t get to make that decision for me. If you walk away, it’s for you because I know what I want.” He takes a deep breath before he says, “Harry, I love you.”

Harry’s hands fall limp in his and when Louis chances a look up, Harry’s eyes look wet. Louis frowns and he lets go off Harry’s hands to get out of the booth. He makes his way over to Harry’s side and slides in next to him. Harry’s still silent but it doesn’t matter because Louis isn’t going to let Harry go.

The curly haired boy looks over when he feels Louis settle in. and Louis makes sure to hold his gaze before whispering, “Kiss me or kill me, but don’t you _dare_ do anything in between.”

There’s a brief hesitation in Harry’s eyes as he searches Louis’ own but then something in them makes Harry snap and he surges forward, kissing Louis.

Louis can’t really help that he starts smiling into the kiss and then that makes Harry start laughing so they both pull away. When they do, Louis looks at Harry with a serious expression. “I’m not kidding though. I love you and I don’t care what you are. It doesn’t matter to me. You matter to me. That’s it.”

One of Harry’s thumbs brush across Louis’ cheekbone and Louis leans into his touch. “I’m not going anywhere,” Louis promises and Harry’s face slowly starts to light up.

“You’re the most ridiculous person I’ve ever met,” Harry tells him but his voice is fond. “You’re actually another Bella Swan. Trouble’s like your middle name, isn’t it? Louis Trouble Tomlinson.”

Louis snorts and his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Maybe.”

“Yeah? Well I love you too, Louis Trouble Tomlinson,” Harry whispers and his eyes are warm. Louis leans in closer and his nose brushes with Harry’s.

He’s about to kiss him but then there’s a loud bang and the sound of someone cursing loudly, making them jump apart. Moments later, Nina walks in covered in flour. “Listen, Harry, as much as you’re great and I ship you both, I need to close up,” She reminds, putting two cupcakes on the counter and gesturing towards them pointedly. “These are for you both.” Then she disappears into the back room again.

Louis has the decency to flush in remorse but Harry keeps smiling stupidly. It seems he’s not getting up so Louis gets to his feet and then offers Harry his hands.

Harry takes them and Louis pulls him up before going over to the counter and taking one of the cupcakes. “Thank you Nina!” Louis calls and she laughs in reply.

“No problem, dearie! You deserve them considering you’ve gotten Harry Styles whipped.”

Harry lets out an indignant, “Hey,” stretching out the last syllable until Louis turns to raise an eyebrow at him. Then he stops and just grins brightly at Louis.

Louis likes how things are looking.

—

He’s by himself in his dorm for an hour before it sinks in. Everything that Harry said and suddenly Louis is going over the last two months of his life for clues.

The first clue is that they call him maneater. Louis starts laughing hysterically to himself once he realizes the secret pun and it takes him five minutes to calm down.

After that he thinks of how Zayn kept telling him not to let Harry eat him instead of the food. Then the whole date in general, how Harry kept being cryptic and telling him that he should be scared of Harry.

It makes sense now, all those small details. How when he saw Harry’s face in the reflection of the bowling ball, it was because he was bleeding. How Harry was able to hit strike after strike without so much as a thought. How he told Tom that his shoe size never changes.

Stan’s reaction to the bite mark on his arm also makes sense. Louis feels a bit rueful that he was that rude to Stan when he was just worried about Louis so he resolves to apologize later.

He’s a bit fuzzy on the details after that but then he remembers that day when it was raining and he kept seeing a shadow following him. It was Harry, he realizes now. He remembers their first kiss and how Harry’s skin felt bumpy underneath his fingers. The bracelet that he found on his desk. It all starts fitting in Louis’ mind like puzzle pieces.

When he met Niall the first time and the waitress seemed overly concerned. The way they kept talking about him. How he smelt blood when he left. He wonders if it was some sort of vampire hangout. He wonders how many vampires he’s encountered and not known.

Everything he thinks of in the last few months just start _clicking_ together now that he knows what he does. Everything that confused him suddenly makes sense. The only thing he’s curious about now is the secret lair in the wall.

Zayn gets back to the dorm around midnight and Louis is busy typing up one of his papers on his laptop. When the tanner boy walks in though, he pushes it to the side and he looks over at him meaningfully.

He refuses to go to sleep without seeing the lair first—it’s being itching at him for _months_. Zayn doesn’t notice his staring at first. Instead he goes about as he normal does and unwraps his scarf from his neck and then takes his jacket off. He’s about to lie down on his bed when he finally catches on.

“What? Have I got something on my trousers?” Zayn wonders, turning his head to look but Louis just raises an eyebrow. When Zayn sees nothing on his jeans, he looks back at Louis in confusion. “What’s with the look, mate?”

Louis crosses his arms and gives him another pointed look. Zayn furrows his eyebrows and frowns. “You’re acting strange,” Zayn mutters and turns back around, grabbing his laptop from his desk.

“I know you’re a vampire,” Louis finally says and Zayn freezes momentarily. Then he slowly turns to Louis with an impassive face.

“Vampire?” Zayn repeats flatly and Louis nods.

“Harry told me,” Louis adds and then Zayn’s face softens into one of understanding. Then he’s grinning and Louis has a body _on_ him, hugging him.

“Welcome to the family, Lou,” Zayn says, hitting Louis on the back lightly and Louis refuses to acknowledge how that makes him feel warm to his toes.

“Thanks,” Louis mutters before his eyes flit to the wall. “Can I see your secret lair thing now? Zayn, come _on_.”

Zayn smirks like he’s been waiting for this day to come and shakes his head. “Don’t know if you should. You might see things you don’t like.”

Louis scoffs, shoving Zayn’s chest lightly. “It’s not like there’s dead bodies in there. Let me _see_ ,” He pleads and Zayn chuckles.

“Who said there wasn’t dead bodies?” Zayn replies, crossing his arms and his eyes are filled with mirth. Louis has to swallow uncertainly because he still isn’t always sure when Zayn is joking and when he’s not.

“There isn’t, right?” He checks and Zayn shrugs.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to go in and see,” He says and then Louis watches as he walks over to his desk and types in the code before rhythmically hitting the wall. He steps back just as the wall slides open and gestures towards Louis.

“I am not responsible for anything you see,” Zayn informs and Louis gives him a dirty look. He takes his time getting there and Zayn just keeps staring at him with this smug expression.

When he finally gets there, he takes a deep breath and steps in. The first thing that registers is that there are no dead bodies and that lifts a weight off Louis’ shoulders. Then, Louis is angry because Zayn has a _bro pad_ and he didn’t tell Louis.

“What the fuck, mate! You have like a billion gaming systems in here! And a bigger television? Is that a mini fridge? Next to a _bigger_ fridge? Zayn, what the _hell_ ,” Louis exclaims and he reaches for one of the play station controller he sees.

Zayn isn’t saying anything, just leaning in the entrance with his arms crossed and that stupid smug look on his face. Louis shoots him a glare and drops the controller in favor of falling on to the one of the bean bags he sees on the floor. He’s a bit disappointed though because he really did think it was a secret vampire hangout—now it seems it’s just somewhere for Zayn to chill.

Louis pushes himself into a sitting position and takes in the rest of the room, from the bookshelf filled with various books to a tank with a—is that a bearded dragon?

He stands back up and wanders over to the mini fridge. It explains where Zayn got the cold water bottle from that one day and he’s hoping for another one when he pulls the door open.

Instead, he’s met with over a dozen bags filled with a dark red liquid and he immediately feels bile rise in the back of his throat. “Is this—“ Louis starts and Zayn laughs.

“Yes,” Zayn confirms and Louis pulls a face before closing the fridge.

“There were some things I just didn’t need to know,” Louis mutters and stands up, brushing his way past Zayn back into their dorm.

“You’re the one that wanted to see,” Zayn reminds and then he gives the wall a kick. “It’s better than killing people. Every week or so, Niall goes on blood runs to hospitals in England and he brings back a load. It all tastes the same and it’s good thing too, especially considering that now Harry doesn’t feed off the guys he takes home because there are none.”

“He—is that where the maneater nickname came from? He took guys home and drank from them? Then compelled them into thinking they were sleeping with him?” Louis asks curiously, sitting on the edge of his bed and Zayn gives him an impressed look.

“You catch on fast, don’t you? He also told you a lot…” Zayn notes thoughtfully and Louis figures this is as good of a chance as any to get Zayn’s backstory.

“He didn’t tell me how you guys became the way you did,” Louis informs and Zayn gives him a knowing look.

“Curiosity killed the cat. I thought we just learned this lesson. Literally, not even five minutes ago. Remember, you opened the fridge full of blood—“ Zayn starts to say and Louis groans, cutting him off.

“Don’t be a twat. Just tell me. I’ll be a good listener,” Louis promises and Zayn rolls his eyes, sighing before sitting down on his own bed.

“Interrupt and you won’t hear the rest,” Zayn threatens and Louis nods eagerly, pulling his legs up on the bed and giving Zayn his best listening expression.

Zayn flips him off before he starts.

“Not much to tell, really. It’s pretty simple, actually. My parents kicked me out after I told them that I liked guys which was, well,” Zayn shrugs but he looks like he’s found his peace with it and Louis was told not to interrupt so he lets Zayn talk.

“I was homeless and I was twenty. I slept in alleyways which was stupid but one day a pretty girl came up to me and told me that I was too young and beautiful to be sleeping on the street. She asked me if I wanted a better life. I figured it couldn’t get worse than it already was and took her hand. In a week I was a vampire.”

Zayn pauses and then he seems to sigh to himself before he starts talking again. “We won’t get into the hundred years between meeting the rest of the boys but let’s just say I did a lot of things I regret but I can’t change the past so. Either ways, I think I met the boys in the beginning of the nineteenth century.”

He pauses then and looks down at his finger. He’s wearing the ring today—the one that matches Liam’s and for once, Louis isn’t completely confused and he has to bite back his knowing smile.

“I didn’t like Harry and Niall at first,” Zayn admits, twisting the ring on his finger before looking up at Louis. “I thought Harry was too nice and that Niall was too in love with life for being vampires. Liam is why I stayed the first few years. I grew to like Harry and Niall. Harry’s sort of like my best friend now, I guess and Niall’s like a little brother to all of us since he’s technically the youngest.”

Zayn smiles fondly and Louis feels his own lips smile back on their own accord. “They’re all really dumb. Don’t let them tell you any different. They’d all be rotting corpses if I didn’t get them out of half the shit they did. There was that one time they snuck in to see the Queen of England. It was all Liam’s idea and of course Niall was all for it—even shook her hand first. I’m getting off topic but anyways.”

Louis is just staring at him in disbelief because that’s _ridiculous_ and something Louis would _definitely_ do. He’s a bit sad he didn’t get the chance to but Zayn continues with his story so he keeps listening.

“Then one day, I decided I had enough of their dangerous ideas and suggested my own. I said, word for word, ‘If you idiots are done with your bullshit conspiracy theories, can we all just go to university or something? I feel like Harry’s starting to get dumb,’ at which point Harry threw a pillow at me but it worked, didn’t it? Bet he’s grateful now,” Zayn mutters, but he’s grinning now.

“So we’re all here and we’re living life. We’re us and sometimes society shuns us but that’s okay because sometimes they also bring along people like you. I’m glad Harry has someone to make him happy and I’m glad it’s you,” Zayn says more quietly and he meets Louis’ gaze with a soft look.

Louis actually thinks he might cry but instead he clears his throat and says, “I knew you were a softie from the start,” and Zayn rolls his eyes, tossing his own pillow at Louis which he grabs easily.

Before he throws it back, he quietly says, “Thank you though. That means a lot, coming from you,” and then he tosses it in Zayn’s general direction. Zayn catches it without looking but he’s still smiling so Louis supposes it’s alright.

There’s a beat of silence before Louis says, “Can we go play fifa in your secret lair?” and Zayn laughs loud enough for guys next door to get mildly alarmed.

—

Now that Louis knows, it’s like all of them can finally breathe around him. Niall starts popping around more often and he shows Louis all the good places to get food—Louis absently thinks that for being a vampire, Niall _really_ likes to eat—and Liam helps him study.

Also, Louis always knew Zayn was his roommate for a reason and it becomes known the second they realize their mutual love for stupid video games and superheroes. Zayn even admits he’s in love with the idea of being the hero opposed to the villain to Louis, and Louis texts his mother saying, _MUM I MADE IT !!!!!!!!_

Louis doesn’t know how he didn’t notice the lot of them are fishy as fuck before, but now when he’s eating, he notices the way that Niall compels the waitress to provide them with good service or when he’s studying, how Liam comes back with coffee in less than five minutes after leaving despite the nearest coffee shop being ten minutes away. Zayn is the most shameless, basically running around their dorm in a blur of motion all the _fucking_ time and then proceeding to take out a blood bag and drink it right in front of Louis like it’s nothing.

Harry though, promises to take him out on a date and show off but Louis keeps having exams so they haven’t been able to go out yet. He comes over though and he sits there while Louis studies, making him studying playlists because of course.

Occasionally he starts vining Louis too at which point he has to kick him out to stop him. After that is the instagram fiasco where Harry insists on taking pictures of everything. Louis ought to take his phone if he’s honest but he likes the way Harry gets excited when he finds something he deems social media worthy.

He doesn’t see Gemma after that but when Harry shyly asks him if he wants to spend New Years with his family, he can’t find it in himself to refuse despite the fact he’s incredibly intimidated by Gemma.

Harry’s entire family is bunch of four hundred year old vampires and Louis is a bit wary to see how he ends up getting along with them. It’s the one time he prays for a Twilight parallel so they all love him as much as the Cullens love Bella Swan.

Louis then wonders if Harry wants to come back home with him for Christmas and his birthday to which Harry’s reaction is to jump him and yell a battle cry of agreement. He’s dating a complete freak.

He’s noticed that now Harry has started to refer to Louis as his boyfriend and that makes Louis feel giddy even if he doesn’t say it aloud. He knows Zayn knows because he gives Louis knowing looks every time it happens. Louis regrets the day he became friends with Zayn.

When all of Louis’ exams are finished, Harry insists on taking him out that weekend and it wasn’t like saying no was even an option if he’s being honest.

Harry drives them out to a field and there’s football nets set on either side.

“You told me you suck at football,” Louis reminds as Harry opens his door, eyebrows raised and he turns to give Harry an accusing look. “You meant when you were a human, didn’t you?”

Harry smiles guiltily and shrugs his shoulders, before holding a hand out for Louis to grab.

“This is going to suck,” Louis mutters but he’s grinning when he takes Harry’s hand and gets out from the car. Over time, he’s come to realize Harry spends way too much money on cars but then again, he wears ripped clothing so Louis guesses it’s an even trade (although he suspects Harry likes wearing ripped clothing out of choice).

“I’m not _that_ good. Since I sucked as a human, I’m just moderate as a vampire. You’ll probably still win,” Harry assures and Louis rolls his eyes, nudging Harry’s hip.

“Don’t let me win,” Louis orders and Harry pouts as he goes to get the football from the backseat.

When he gets it out, he tosses it to Louis who catches it. Then in seconds, Harry’s across the field, shouting, “Wouldn’t dream of it!” and Louis laughs quietly.

He knows Harry hears it because his lips quirk up into a smile.

So they play football and they end up in a tie which Louis figures that isn’t bad considering he was facing a four hundred year old vampire. But then again, Harry’s like a deer and stumbles over himself at least ten times between the beginning of the game and the end. Louis isn’t even sure if it’s for his benefit or not.

He swore Harry said something about super agility and when he brings it up, Harry just starts pouting and then he proceeds to throw grass at Louis. This is promptly followed by a ridiculous fight where they throw grass at each other and by the end they’re both ridiculous dirty.

“I thought you were supposed to be showing off,” Louis wheezes, rolling onto his back and Harry groans on his left side.

“I _was_ showing off,” Harry protests and it’s a cute little whine that would make Louis giggle if he wasn’t out of breath.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Louis wonders and Harry rolls over, burying his face in the crook of Louis’ arm and groaning again.

“I don’t like you,” Harry grumbles and Louis pinches him in retaliation. Of course, Harry doesn’t even flinch and Louis curses his human strength.

“No, you love me. It’s mutual, we’ve discussed it, remember?” Louis reminds and then he feels Harry’s smile against the curve of his elbow.

“Maybe,” Harry agrees and then he’s clambering on top of Louis in a flash, legs on either side of Louis’ waist and he’s smirking. “Can I have a kiss?”

Louis rolls his eyes but digs his elbows into the ground so he can push himself up and Harry meets him halfway. It’s probably the most disgusting kiss Louis has ever had considering they’re both covered in dirt and grass but then Harry giggles into the kiss and Louis doesn’t even care.

He leans back on his elbows then. “You don’t need to show off, you know? I didn’t fall in love with you because you’re a vampire. I think it’s cool that you are but it doesn’t affect _us_ so it doesn’t matter,” Louis reminds, bringing his knees up to keep Harry trapped in between his thighs.

Harry doesn’t look like he minds all that much because his eyes are shining and Louis can see the way he’s fighting off a grin and losing because his dimples are appearing.

“You know my life has been like a question mark these past centuries,” Harry starts and Louis perks up, always interested to hear about Harry’s history. “I’ve never really had a purpose.”

Louis frowns at that and opens his mouth to say something but then Harry’s finger presses against this lips, shushing him. Louis snaps his teeth but of course, Harry is quicker and he gets his finger away in time to give Louis an admonishing look.

“Zayn had Liam and Liam had Zayn and Niall had life. I was just—always kind of there. It wasn’t like I wasn’t happy. I was. I had a family who loved me and I loved them back. I got to live for hundreds of years. I got to see art, music and technology advance. I had fun,” Harry tells him and Louis doesn’t try to say anything this time because Harry is fidgeting and playing with his bracelets now which Louis knows is a tell sign of him being nervous.

“Vampires—they feel strongly. We don’t feel like humans do. Our emotions are more intense. Sometimes when we’re faced with powerful feelings, our eyes do that…thing. Where blood rushes into the veins underneath our eyes,” Harry murmurs, ducking his head and then he takes a moment’s pause before meeting Louis’ gaze.

His eyes are red and the veins are prominent. Louis doesn’t have much of a reaction other than blinking suddenly at the change but he doesn’t flinch back. He thinks maybe Harry is testing him to see how much he can handle before he goes running and he also thinks Harry is _dumb_ if he thinks Louis is going anywhere.

“What did you think of to get your eyes to look like that?” Louis wonders quietly and Harry’s face returns to normal before he smiles shyly.

“The night in the club. When you asked me on a date,” Harry answers and Louis gives him a questioning look.

“Why that night?”

Harry keeps fidgeting with his bracelets before he quietly answers, “It was the first time in a long time that someone wanted to get to know me.”

Louis frowns at that and Harry uses his whole hand to cover Louis’ mouth. It isn’t really effective because Louis just licks a stripe across his palm instead—which he instantly regrets because now there’s grass in this mouth—and Harry makes a disturbed face before pulling his hand back.

“Kinky,” Harry murmurs quietly and Louis smirks.

“You’re dirty. Literally. This isn’t the time. Go back to what you were saying before,” Louis instructs and Harry pouts but he does as he’s told.

“Right, so. We feel strongly and yeah I was happy, but I never felt the _vampire_ version of happy, I guess. I was content with my life but something was missing. I couldn’t find the answer to the question that was my life.”

Louis doesn’t say anything, just watches Harry as he starts picking at his bracelets again.

“But then you came along. You came along and you weren’t supposed to. I went to the bathroom because I heard someone talking about me, a couple. I didn’t expect to bump into you. I knew you were new. I heard people talk about you—the new kid, Stan Lucas' best friend, and I thought, what’s another human to me?”

Harry’s hands are shaking now and Louis restrains the urge to hold them because he knows this isn’t the time to interrupt. He does gently nudge Harry with one of his knees though and Harry stops playing with his bracelets to grab one of Louis’ hands himself.

Louis squeezes reassuringly and Harry starts to speak again.

“I thought it’d be fun to tease you. I said maybe it was my intention to meet you all along but it wasn’t. I didn’t plan it. Later, I could hear you, you know? When Stan was telling you about me. I could hear him telling you that I was a maneater and that my friends and I were weird. I thought that it would be the end of whatever might’ve happened. That you’d be just like everyone else and accept it. I thought I’d never talk to you again. But that’s not what happened.”

Harry’s smiling softly now but he still isn’t meeting Louis’ eyes.

“You just shut him down and walked over to me. I thought maybe you were going to start a scene or something because people were staring and you could have. I didn’t know you and you didn’t know me so it wasn’t like I expected anything more. You didn’t though. Instead, you asked me out on a date. I don’t know why but you did and you weren’t supposed to. You were supposed to live your life and glare at me when you saw me just like everyone else but instead you took a chance. Nobody has ever taken a chance on me.”

Louis feels his lips part in surprise but Harry continues speaking.

“Then I thought, maybe you’d stand me up. Maybe you wouldn’t text me and that would be the end of that. You did though and you went on a date with me. Even after Lux bit you, you laughed it off and you went on another date on me. And another. You didn’t—you didn’t _stop_. I wanted—I _want_ to give you everything and anything you want. Louis, I don’t even think you know. I want to catch the stars and give them to you, even if they burn holes in my hands.”

At this point, Louis is kind of just staring at Harry in awe, unsure what else he’s supposed to do. He doesn’t think he’s ever loved someone as much as he loves this boy in front of him.

“All I want is for you to be happy. When I saw your room for the first time, I saw that pinup map you had on your side of the wall. On the top, it said _places I want to go_ and there were pins in countries all over the world. The first place I saw was France and I thought, why the fuck not? Zayn has friends in airports all over the world and it was easy enough to book a flight. It was already so bad—how I was ready to drop everything to see a smile on your face but I didn’t _care_. I’ve never been that reckless.”

Then Harry finally looks up at Louis and he murmurs, “You make me reckless.” Louis has to turn away and blink a few times to make sure he doesn’t start doing something ridiculous like crying.

“You’re crazy, Harry,” Louis whispers and Harry laughs quietly.

“For you,” He agrees with a nod. “I’ve never been in love. I’ve never felt that way before. It’s so terrifying—to give your heart away and trust that the other person will take care of it. But I do, I trust you. I trust you implicitly and that’s why it’s okay. It took me a while to realize it but I didn’t just love you. I loved you the way only a vampire can love someone. I loved you endlessly and effortlessly. I loved you the way the sun loves the moon and the way the ocean loves the sand. You gave me purpose, Louis. You were the answer to my question.”

Louis really can’t help that he’s crying now and Harry’s thumb reaches up to brush the tears off his cheeks. Louis laughs brokenly and then he pushes himself into a sitting position, jostling Harry in his lap who wraps his arms around Louis’s neck in surprise.

“You didn’t need to tell me all that,” Louis mumbles and Harry shakes his head.

“I did though,” Harry replies, eyes soft. “Because I wanted to thank you. You thanked me for being me after our first date and this time, I want to thank you. For being this wonderful person I didn’t stand a chance of not falling in love with. For being charming and foolish, daring and adventurous, reckless and brave and just being you. Thank you.”

Louis stares at him in wonder and then he laughs again, this time incredulously before he reaches up, tugging Harry into a soft kiss.

“I love you,” Louis whispers when they pull apart and Harry grins, dimples on show for the whole world to see.

“I know. It’s mutual, we’ve discussed it,” Harry teases and Louis can’t help when he snorts, pulling him into another kiss.

—

“Wait, we’re doing what?” Niall asks and his mouth is filled with popcorn. Louis thinks Niall has an endless stomach because there is no other explanation for the way the Irish boy inhales his food like it’s air.

“You’re the one who came up with idea,” Louis deadpans, raising a pointed eyebrow and Niall shrugs.

“I don’t even know my own name half the time,” Niall supplies helpfully and Louis flips him off. They’re in the basement of Harry's house which is apparently just a bigger version of Zayn’s bro pad in their room. Louis loves his life. He also loves Harry. And he’s on his way to loving the boys. It’s a work in a progress.

“You’re a filthy liar. Harry told me you guys have perfect memory,” Louis snaps, tugging uselessly at a box that just won’t move. He’s inside the closet because Niall came up with the miraculous idea to have a man sleepover because it was the last day of November. “Also, why the fuck am I doing this while you’re eating popcorn? You’re like _super strong_ ,” Louis complains, letting his arms drop at his sides.

Niall makes muffled noises of disagreement but then he does set down the bowl of popcorn to get in the closet too. He uses one hand and pulls the box out like it’s a sack of fluff. Louis contemplates punching him but Niall would just laugh in response.

“We have no secrets left. This is depressing,” Niall says but his voice is contradictory because he sounds cheerful.

“What the hell is even in the box? I thought we were supposed to be getting sleeping bags,” Louis accuses and Niall shrugs.

“This, my friend, is where I keep all the good alcohol.”

Louis glares and Niall grins, before he gestures to another box in the closet. “Those are the sleeping bags. Hurry up, Tommo,” Niall says before taking the box in one hand and his bowl of popcorn in the other.

“I’ll hurry up, and poison your popcorn while I'm at it,” Louis grumbles and of course Niall hears because he starts laughing halfway up the stairs.

Louis huffs to himself and he picks up the box that Niall pointed to. It’s not nearly as heavy and he’s thankful. He isn’t really a fan of upper body strength—there’s a reason he sucks at bowling.

It hasn’t been all that long since he found out they’re all vampires but earlier in the day, Louis was watching Celebrity Big Brother with Zayn when Niall burst in and declared they all needed to bond.

Zayn threw a pillow at Niall. It turned against him when Niall shouted, “That’s it! A man sleepover! We can have pillow fights too!”

Their dorm neighbors really hate them.

It’s alright though because now Louis has taken to hanging out in their house. It isn’t as big as it seemed now that he’s gotten a chance to explore it.

In fact, Louis likes it way better than he ever liked his dorm and his clothes find a way of making themselves appear in Harry’s drawers. Louis isn’t really questioning it.

Still, Niall insists they have a man sleepover and Liam took to the idea. Zayn mutters, “Those two are fucking ruining my life,” when Niall leaves and Louis laughs until he cries.

It’s just him and Niall in the house though because Harry’s at one his classes and Liam and Zayn are doing _something_ but Louis isn’t sure he wants to know. He plans to get Liam and Niall’s story out of them during the sleepover and he decides now is a good place to start.

“Niall!” Louis calls when he gets up the stairs and Niall shouts back from the kitchen—which, of course. Louis puts the box down and walks to the kitchen where Niall is sifting through bottles of alcohol.

“What’s up, mate?” Niall mutters absently, eyes scanning the labels and Louis raises an eyebrow because he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Niall so focused on anything.

“Well, first of all you didn’t tell me where to put the box,” Louis points out, leaning against the counter and Niall waves a hand towards the stairs.

“You can leave them downstairs,” Niall replies and Louis heaves a sigh.

He pointedly takes a seat and says, “I can sit my ass down, actually.” Niall snorts in reply, before shrugging.

“You’ve got Harry whipped, make him do it when he gets back,” He says before he zips across the kitchen faster than Louis’ eyes can see—all he sees is a blur of motion and then Niall is producing two glass cup in front of Louis, pouring them both a drink from one of the bottles in the box. “Drink up, it’s going to be a long night.”

Louis gives him a blank look before sighing dejectedly and taking a drink. It burns in his throat and he starts coughing, before blinking his watery eyes open. “What the fuck is that? It’s really strong,” He splutters, pushing his glass away from him.

“Without this drink I’m weaker. Is that so wrong? Is it so wrong, that this drink makes me strong?” Niall asks and Louis gives up because Niall is already drunk without the drink.

“You can have my drink,” Louis offers instead and Niall grins, throwing back his own drink before taking Louis’ as well.

“Bless, Tommo. Knew I liked you for a reason,” Niall says, raising his glass and Louis just rolls his eyes, before kicking the chair in front of him so it’s behind Niall in case he falls.

“How drunk do I have to get you to tell me your vampire back story?” Louis asks in attempt to be nonchalant but Niall’s head snaps up and his lips twist into a frown since the first time since Louis met him.

Louis immediately tries to backtrack and he’s quick to blurt, “You don’t have to, of course. I was just curious.”

Niall sighs and then he sits down in the seat Louis kicked out for him. “I’ll tell you but I think I’ll need a drink or two,” He says and pours himself a drink pointedly.

Louis gestures for him to go for it and Niall takes a deep breath before he starts. “My brother was a vampire. His name was Greg. It was a little over halfway through the eighteenth century. My brother and me, we were close so he told me his secret and I kept it. My parents weren’t the most accepting of people and my town knew about vampires. So I kept hush but then one night, I got hit by a car. I didn’t die on impact, obviously and Greg found me. Our—our blood heals people so Greg did the only thing he could think of and he fed me his blood. I would’ve refused if I was conscious for it but I was nearly dead so I didn’t even know what was happening. When I woke up, I was fine but then soon after I guess my parents found it. They tried to kill him. He fled though and I think he lived. But,” Niall pauses and he has to take another deep breath, coupled with drinking the rest of the glass before he continues.

“I don’t know if he did. I haven’t seen him since then but I hope he’s alright. He saved my life and I can’t repay him for that. But yeah, after he fled I guess my parents assumed I was a vampire too and they killed me. They didn’t even flinch. They smothered me and then tossed my body in the yard. They didn’t even care that I was their son, it didn’t matter.”

Niall stops to laugh bitterly this time, pouring himself another drink and Louis frowns. As much as he teases Niall, he doesn’t think the blond boy deserves to be sad and he especially didn’t deserve to be killed by his own parents. Louis doesn’t say anything though because he thinks Niall wouldn’t want his pity.

“They didn’t know that with vampire blood in my system, I’d die and come back as a vampire. I woke up in my yard and then I left. I knew what vampires could do because Greg told me, so I went to the nearest train station and compelled my way to England. There I was alone for a month before I met Harry.”

Niall’s bitter expression slowly inches towards a fonder one now. “He was—he was alone. He found me and he took me in. He showed me what to do and how to do it. He saved my life just as much as Greg did except Harry’s still here. He’s as much of a brother to me as Greg is. All the boys see me as their little brother but I don’t mind because I already lost one older brother, I’m not going to lose my three new ones. This is my family now and I love them a hell of a lot more than my old one.”

Then he smiles, setting his glass down. “I’m happy now. It took a while but I got here and I’m happy. I love my life. I love that I have a loving family and that I get to be young forever and do crazy shit. I just love life. So yeah, I’m happy and I wish everyone was as happy as I am. I wish I could share my happiness but I can’t and it sucks. That’s why I’m glad you came along, Louis. You make Harry happy and I’ve never seen him that happy. So thanks Tommo, for making my brother happy.”

Louis thinks every single one of them is out to make him cry. That’s what’s happening here. He feels like his heart might burst out of his chest because—this is Harry’s family and they approve of him. They’re _thanking_ him for making Harry happy.

“I think I change my mind about that drink because it’s possible I might start crying and I’m too old for that shit,” Louis mutters and Niall laughs, pouring him a glass and sliding it across.

Louis takes it and before he takes a sip, he mumbles, “That means a lot, Niall. Thanks.” The sip makes his eyes water but at least he doesn’t cough this time.

Then Niall perks up, sitting straighter in his chair. “Zayn is here. We can actually get shit done now,” Niall says in relief and Louis turns around.

It turns out to be pointless though because Zayn slips right past him and he only realizes when his hand is empty. He turns back and Zayn is sitting on top of the counter with Louis’ drink in his hand. “Niall, you didn’t touch my stuff, did you?”

Niall gives him a dry look. “Yeah, ‘cause I touch your stuff all the time. What the hell? Of course I don’t.”

Zayn snickers before nodding towards Louis. “Thanks for the drink.”

Louis gives him a similar dry look. “I didn’t give it to you. You took it, you asshole,” Louis grumbles before sliding off his chair. “Are we really doing this? We’re having a bro man dude pal sleepover thing?”

“What the fuck is a bro man dude pal—you know what, I don’t want to know. Yes, we’re doing this. Niall said we’re doing this. It’s happening. Deal with it,” Zayn says, finishing the drink and then putting the glass back in Louis’ hand. “Now, excuse me as I go set up the playstation. Niall isn’t allowed to touch electronics.” Then Zayn makes a funny face and Niall snickers before they both disappear.

Louis is left alone with an empty glass and he thinks this is the beginning of the end. He’s going to end up dying tonight. This is how it all starts.

Two hours later, there’s a huge table full of popcorn, nachos, pizza and drinks. Louis thinks it’s mainly for Niall and him because he rarely sees the others really eat food. He knows they can but it seems they prefer not to.

Niall has a stack of films set up and Zayn is drawing what Louis thinks may be a picture of Liam but every time he wanders over, Zayn flips the sketchpad over. Louis scowls but he goes back to this spot on the couch.

He found a journal that belonged to Harry while they were setting up and he texted the curly haired boy asking if he could look at it. Harry texted an affirmative and Louis has been going through it on and off.

It’s mostly song lyrics, dated from the sixteenth century until just the other day. They don’t really have a general flow but Louis likes them enough. He gets distracted easily though so when he sees Zayn cursing under his breath while tapping his phone he goes to investigate.

“What are you doing?” Louis wonders and Zayn just glowers at his screen.

“I hate phones. I hate the person that invented these stupid games. Why the fuck is this bird so heavy? Why isn’t it flying around the poles? What the fuck is this?” Zayn grumbles and then Louis looks over his shoulder to see him tapping the screen relentlessly as a bird flies under poles.

“That looks easy,” Louis comments and Zayn unexpectedly dies in the game. Then he turns to glare at Louis.

“My high score is a fucking _seven_ ,” Zayn complains and then he looks back at screen. “This is so fucking stupid. Why the fuck does this bird need my support to fucking fly? Birds are fucking incompetent creatures, I hope they all go extinct.”

Louis gives Zayn a strange look but then Niall looks over from where he’s on his own phone. “Are you playing flappy bird? I fucking hate that game, I have a twenty,” Niall says and Zayn’s mouth drops open.

“A _twenty_? Niall, how the fuck? Can this fucking bird even fly under twenty poles? Why didn’t the bird’s mum swallow? Who the fuck created this game? Niall, we’re going to hunt them down and compel them to cancel the app. I’m really pissed off.” Zayn feels the need to prove this because he grabs a pillow off the couch he’s sitting on and rips it in half.

Niall laughs and then he holds his phone out. “Just got a twenty two.”

Zayn’s phone clatters on to the table in front of him and then Louis is unsure where he went until Niall lets out a yelp of surprise and the two of them are rolling around on the ground. Louis is alarmed at first but Niall is still laughing so Louis supposes it must be okay.

Liam walks in then and he takes one look at the ground where they’re both still rolling around. “Did Niall tell Zayn his high score on flappy bird?” Liam wonders and Louis nods.

It seems Liam expected this because he rolls his eyes and then in a flash he’s beside Louis, picking up Zayn’s phone. They’re still rolling on the ground but Liam doesn’t seem to care as he taps on the phone a few times.

Then he gets up and pulls Zayn off Niall. “Here, you have a thirty. Stop bullying Niall, he’s just a child,” Liam scolds and Niall pouts at that.

Zayn however is grinning, looking at his phone like it’s the next coming of Jesus. “You are the love of my life,” Zayn mutters and then Louis watches as he squeezes Liam so tightly that Louis worries a few bones might break. But they’re vampires, so of course not.

Still, the interaction makes Louis smile because he hasn’t actually seen them act like a couple before now and while this could pass for a bro moment, Louis knows it’s not.

He likes that he’s not in the dark about this stuff anymore because he actually understands what’s happening now and he doesn’t feel like he’s completely lost. It’s a nice feeling.

After Zayn lets go off Liam, he goes back to his sketchpad and Louis settles himself onto the couch he was originally on and grabs Harry’s journal again. He flips it open to a random page and this one looks like a journal entry.

_09/09/13_

_When you have forever, days pass by in seconds. Nothing is distinguishable anymore. But today, a second felt like an hour. There’s a new guy. His name is Louis. He’s Zayn’s roommate. Niall forgot to fill out the roommate form and they’re both too lazy to compel someone into fixing it. Typical of them. Zayn said Louis was an alright guy but I didn’t think we’d meet him so soon. It was just another typical night out with the boys and I knew the new guy was here. Everyone was talking about him. When I went to the bathroom, I bumped into him. The bumping part may have been a little intentional but running into him wasn’t. He was checking me out, it was funny. I think he liked my tattoos. He was pretty. Prettiest person I’d seen in a while. I thought maybe he could be someone I took home. But then he left the bathroom and I didn’t follow him. When I got back out, he was talking to his friend. I don’t know his name but I think he’s friends with some of the people into the anti-v group so I knew Louis was off limits. It was a loss I got over rather quickly. He was just another person that didn’t know me so it didn’t matter. I listened though, when his friend told him about me. I always do. I can’t help it. It used to hurt but now it’s more precautionary than anything else. He called me the usual—a maneater which I suppose isn’t all that wrong. Hah. I love puns. Anyways, after that he called us a bunch of freaks and then he warned him off us. I thought that was it. Never going to hear from Louis again. I felt kind of bad for Zayn but I figured if it got too bad, Zayn could compel himself into a new roommate. I didn’t expect him to come over. He did though. Louis walked straight up to us and I figured cheeky was the best way to go so I smiled and asked, “Can we help you, Louis?” I didn’t think I’d get an answer and at first it didn’t seem like I would. He looked nervous. I couldn’t figure out why. Then he asked me on a date. Me, Harry Styles. I haven’t been asked on a date since 1929 and even then, I didn’t go on that date. Liam gave him my number because of course, Liam’s always thinking ahead. Zayn seemed wary and Niall found the whole situation hilarious but Niall thinks everything is hilarious. I guess we’ll see what happens. It’s the first time though, that someone stopped to think we weren’t what everyone said about us. That I wasn’t who everyone thought I was. Louis is different and I can’t put my finger on why. It’s a refreshing change though. Here’s to hope for new beginnings .x_

It takes Louis ten minutes to read it and by the end, he kind of just sits there and thinks about his life. Thinks about how maybe Harry is right and fate is a real thing.

He thinks he should be scared. He should’ve ran the day he found out but he’s still here and he doesn’t think he _can_ leave. The things he feels for Harry are unreal.

Louis didn’t even know he was capable of loving someone so much that just looking at them makes him run short of breath.

Harry makes him want to do stupid things, makes him want to sing and dance and just—Harry makes him happy. All the boys keep thanking him for making Harry happy but all he can think of is how _he_ has never been this happy.

He’s never felt like he belonged, really. But he does with Harry. He fits with Harry perfectly, they align up like the planets. Louis thinks Harry isn’t far when he talks about finding each other because they did.

Louis thinks he finds himself every single day when he’s with Harry. He thinks Harry is home.

“Louis, can you shut up, I can hear your thoughts from here,” Niall calls, shaking Louis out of his reverie. Then his eyes widen and he turns to Niall.

“You can _read my thoughts_?” Louis repeats and Niall looks up from his phone to shoot him a concerned look.

“Not actually, mate. I just meant you have a really fond face thing going on there and I’m starting to feel ridiculously single. So please, stop,” Niall pleads and Louis breathes a sigh of relief before rolling his eyes.

“What was the point of this sleepover? We’re not even talking to each other. We’re all doing our own thing,” Louis points out and Niall shrugs.

“That’s how friendship works in the twenty first century. I saw girls say so on twitter,” Zayn interrupts and Niall nods enthusiastically.

Louis pulls a face before he sets Harry’s journal down and heads over to the DVD player. He picks the first movie he sees which is strangely enough, _The Lion King_.

“Cuddle pile. Now,” Louis demands, pointing at the couch and everyone in the room gives him a blank look. “Oh, come on, get off of it. Don’t be little girls. Get on the couch. Pile together. Cuddle.”

Louis keeps pointing, expression determined and eventually Niall gets up and walks over to the couch, plopping himself down in the middle. Then Liam sighs and he gets up too, sitting on Niall’s right side.

Zayn is the only one left and Louis turns a glare on him. Of course, Zayn glares back but then he gets up and makes his way to the couch, sitting on Liam’s other side. Louis nods satisfied and then he goes to sit next to Niall, grabbing the remote and a blanket as he goes. He presses play and then throws the blanket over all of them before forcing them to cuddle in.

It takes five minutes but they all eventually give in and it becomes a mess of limbs. Louis is proud of himself for this accomplishment.

Harry walks in to see all four of them sniffling as Mufasa dies. He doesn’t ask questions. Instead, he just climbs in next to Louis and offers them all tissues.

After _The Lion King_ finishes, Harry gets up and puts in _Love Actually_. After that is _Grease_. Then, Louis decides he can’t feel his legs and they all decide to take an hour break before the next movie.

Louis ends up in the in kitchen and Harry walks in after him with an incredulous look. “How did you get them to cuddle with you? They only do that with me _once a year_.”

He shrugs and his lips curl into a smile. “It just kind of happened.”

Harry rolls his eyes and then opens the fridge. He takes out a large gallon of apple juice and Louis raises his eyebrows. “Zayn likes apple juice,” Harry explains while gesturing to the jug, before he teases, “Don’t get yourself into trouble. I’ll be right back,” and promptly disappears.

Louis shrugs to himself and pours himself a cup of orange juice from a different jug he sees on the counter when Liam walks in. “I heard you’re fishing for back stories,” Liam announces, sitting down on a chair and Louis chokes on his juice for a second.

“I—I have no clue where you heard that,” Louis replies and Liam gives him a knowing look. “Okay, maybe, I am but you’re not obligated to tell me anything.”

Liam smiles kindly. “My story is probably the most boring, honestly. I might as well.” He gestures for Louis to sit in front of him.

Louis takes the seat and offers Liam the jug of orange juice but Liam shakes his head. He folds his hands together on the table in front of them before he sighs.

“Mine takes place about five years before Niall’s, so mid-eighteenth century. I had a girlfriend at the time and one day she just came home acting really strangely. I wasn’t sure what happened with her but she avoided me for a week or two but then she told me she was a vampire. Obviously at first I didn’t believe it but then to prove it, she turned me into one. I didn’t ask for it but I guess none of us did, really.”

Liam looks more nonchalant about this than the other boys though, Louis notes absently. Like he’s more at peace with it.

“It was good for me, though. My family was—um, abusive. So, I guess it meant that I could finally leave and be my own person. I met Harry and Niall about fifteen years later. My girlfriend at the time—she wasn’t smart about being a vampire and she got herself killed off in the first year. But, I’ve had a lot of time to move on, so it doesn’t really trigger anything for me now. We met Zayn in the nineteenth century and I guess I just never looked back.”

Louis smirks before mumbling, “I wonder why that is,” and Liam raises an eyebrow.

“This isn’t the time for that story. Ask me in ten years,” Liam offers before getting up, picking up the jug of orange juice on the way and placing it back in the fridge.

Louis tends to not open the fridge, mostly due to the fact that he knows there are blood bags in there. While he’s beyond relieved that the boys don’t kill for blood, it still makes him slightly uncomfortable to see dozens of blood bags lined up just waiting for them to drink.

Then what Liam says registers in his mind. “Ten years? You think I’ll be here in ten years?” Louis wonders, eyes wide and Liam laughs.

“Don’t think Harry will be willing to let you go, mate. You’re kind of stuck with us. The real question is will you still be twenty one or will you be thirty,” Liam teases, waggling his eyebrows and then he’s gone just as Harry comes back in.

“What was that about?” Harry wonders and Louis just shakes his head but he’s too busy thinking about what Liam said to really give a good answer.

It’s been bugging him, actually. To know that Harry is nineteen and that he’s going to be nineteen forever but one day, Louis will wake up and be seventy and dying.

It scares him, honestly. He’s always wanted to be forever young and all that but it was never a real possibility. It was just a passing thought that stuck with him, late into his teenage years. He remembers he’d rather be called twenteen than twenty.

The option is there now, though. To travel the world, be young and do stupid things but this time, he sees Harry by his side. He remember the conversation on the plane, the one where Harry asked him if that’s what he really wanted but he shot him down saying it wasn’t possible.

But now that it is, he doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do. He’s still trying to process the fact that vampires are even real, much less that he’s dating one.

Louis has never been good at making decisions and he doesn’t know if Harry will even _offer_ but if the times comes, he isn’t sure what he’d say. He doesn’t know if he’d say yes and let Harry turn him or if he’d say no and stay a human. One option means staying with Harry forever but the other means having a normal life.

He’s never really been normal but he doesn’t know if he’s ready to drop everything just for the sake of one boy. It isn’t just one boy though, it’s Harry. Harry with his sweet smiles and kind personality and soft eyes.

Louis is in love with him but he wonders if he will be in a hundred, or even a thousand years. What he feels for Harry right now is so strong that it doesn’t feel like it could ever go away and Harry says that feelings only amplify when you become a vampire so it seems that, yeah, this could work. This could be his life.

The one thing that’s really holding him back is the prospect of being young while everyone around him dies. He doesn’t want to watch his family grow old and die. He doesn’t know how he would explain that to them, while they slowly age over the years and he stays just as he is.

Another thing is that, he’s always wanted a family. Wanted kids and someone to love him. He doesn’t know if that’s possible while being vampires. It’s not like Harry and him could have kids anyways—adoption would probably be the best option there.

He doesn’t even know why he’s _thinking_ of kids but he’s just trying to consider all the foreseeable problems that could happen should he be selfish for once. He thinks the family part may still work out but then he has his own family to consider.

Louis doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do and it’s _bothering_ him.

Harry seems to catch on that something’s on Louis’ mind because he doesn’t say anything, just settles into the seat in front of Louis and hooks their ankles together.

Finally, Louis looks up and gives Harry a small smile. “How do I get them to tell me embarrassing stories about you?"

Harry makes a face and shakes his head. “I’m not telling you,” He says and Louis shrugs.

“That’s quite alright,” Louis mutters before raising his voice, “Niall! What do I have to do to get you spill Harry’s dirty secrets?”

“Bring me one of the drinks on the counter!” Niall yells back and Louis gives Harry a pointed grin. Harry groans and hangs his head with a sad expression.

Louis reaches over to poke his cheek. “Don’t look that sad, you can always try to get Stan to tell you my horrid childhood memories,” Louis teases and Harry gives him a flat look.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Louis shrugs and slides off his seat, offering Harry his hand. “Do you want to come with?”

Harry rolls his eyes but he takes the hand and pulls himself up. “I regret every single decision I’ve made that led to this moment in time,” He mutters and Louis laughs sharply.

“Sorry love, but I don’t really care,” Louis croons back and Harry gives him another flat look.

When they get downstairs, the boys are sitting in a circle with a deck of cards in the middle. Zayn looks bored, Liam looks determined and Niall looks like he’s having a riot. He thinks that probably describes all their personalities pretty well.

Louis sets himself down next to Zayn who gives him a disgruntled look but Louis can feel the fond underneath. He knew Zayn couldn’t resist the Tomlinson charm.

Harry sits in between him and Niall and then takes Louis’ hand. Louis has to hide his smile but Zayn, of course, catches it and snickers.

Niall throws his cards down and Liam makes an indignant noise. “I give up. We’re playing truth or dare.”

Zayn groans then, tossing his own cards. “I hate playing that with you. You _always_ win,” He complains and Harry nods in agreement from Louis’ other side.

“Don’t act like it’s my fault the lot of you can’t hold your drinks or are too much of a wuss to do the dare. That’s _your_ fault,” Niall points out and claps his hands together. “Plus, Louis has never played with us. We have to do it.”

Liam shakes his head and curses under his breath but Niall ignores it. “The rules are simple, Tommo. We have a set of cards for this. There’s a dare pile and a truth pile. You choose the one you want but if you back out, you have to drink up,” Niall explains, holding up his own bottle of beer.

“Seems easy enough,” Louis agrees and Zayn shakes his head.

“Those are your boyfriend’s famous last words,” Zayn mutters to Harry who looks as alarmed as Liam does.

“What? It’s just truth or dare, right?” Louis wonders and Niall snickers before disappearing. He’s back within seconds, placing down two decks of cards.

“I can’t believe we’re letting Niall do this,” Liam mumbles and Harry finally interrupts, grabbing Niall’s wrist from where he’s shuffling the deck.

“Is this safe for Louis to do?” He asks and Niall’s expression is a considering one before he shrugs.

“He can drink if he doesn’t want to do it,” Niall reminds and then puts the deck in his hand down. He grabs the other one and starts shuffling.

Harry still looks wary but he lets go Niall’s wrist. “This is going to end so badly.”

“Yup,” Niall agrees with a grin and then he puts down the other deck. “We’re going in alphabetical order. Go ahead, Harry.”

Harry sighs but he does what he’s told and picks a card from the dare pile, handing it to Niall. “I don’t even want to know what it says,” He mutters to Louis who stifles a giggle.

“The dare is flush your foot down the toilet,” Niall reads and Harry makes a face.

“I always get the disgusting ones,” He mutters before letting go of Louis’ hand to hop to his feet. “Who’s coming with?”

“I will,” Zayn answers, hopping to his own feet and then both of them disappear in blurs of motion.

“This isn’t as bad as they make it seem,” Niall assures, bending the card absently. “They’re all really just a big bunch of scaredy-cats.”

“Niall, I had to pour _five gallons_ of milk down my shirt once,” Liam reminds and Louis laughs without meaning to.

“That was a good day,” Niall agrees just as Harry and Zayn come back. Harry’s holding his shoe with a disgruntled expression and his foot is wet.

“He did it,” Zayn confirms, sitting down and Harry frowns before sitting down on Louis’ other side. He doesn’t make an attempt to grab Louis’ hand but that’s probably because it’s occupied by his shoe.

“I hate you all. I should’ve packed my bags when I walked in on Zayn and Liam that one time but no—“ Harry starts and Zayn’s foot reaches out to kick him.

“There are _children_ present,” Zayn reminds before giving Louis an overly sweet smile.

“Technically, I’m older than all of you,” Louis argues and ignores the sinking feeling in his stomach as he says it. He hates that he’s started to worry about this.

“I’m just glad I’m not the youngest anymore,” Niall mumbles before he nudges Liam. “Your turn.”

Liam chooses truth this time and he hands the card to Niall, who grins upon seeing the words written on it. “You’ve lucked out, mate. It says to tell the story of your current love interest.”

Louis’ eyes light up as he realizes what that means. He gets to hear Liam and Zayn’s story ten years early. He loves his life.

Liam squawks in indignation. “There’s no way it says that,” Liam protests and Niall holds out the card for everyone to read. Zayn’s expression looks too neutral to be strictly normal. Louis thinks he’s probably murdering all of them in his head.

“Go for it, Li. Louis was bound to find out sooner or later.”

Liam flips him the finger but then he takes a deep breath and starts. “It, er, starts in the year 1810. I was with this asshat I call my friend, Niall and the other asshat I call my friend, Harry.”

Harry makes an affronted noise at that but Liam ignores it. “I love them, despite their asshattery. Anyways, I was at this library getting a cookbook for asshat number two, Harry when I saw him. Well, I guess I didn’t see him. I dropped the book and before I could pick it up, someone else did and handed it to me. It was weird because obviously, I have vampire speed but he managed to get there before me. He introduced himself and his name was Zayn. Then he looked down at the ring on my hand and complimented it. I went to thank him but he was already gone. It took me all of two minutes to realize he was one of us and another minute to go after him.”

Liam’s smiling now and Louis notes the way that his hand is creeping towards Zayn’s. “I found him sitting outside the library, holding a copy of Pride and Prejudice because he’s Zayn and of course, he would. I sat down next to him and we talked. For hours, we sat there and we talked. It was—strange to say the least. It’s never been that easy for me to talk to someone before but with Zayn, I guess finding him was the hard part but loving him is easy.”

Both their hands are behind their backs now and they’re definitely holding each other’s. Louis thinks they’re probably more obvious than him and Harry.

“I told him about the two guys I lived with and he got curious so I brought him with me. He just stayed and kind of never left after that. Niall and Harry both approved so it was only a matter of time before he started liking them too. Zayn was always just there—like a constant. We fit together, like links of a chain. We’re complete opposites but it works. We work. Zayn is brilliant and dorky. He’s mischievous and soft-spoken. He’s creative and broody. He’s careful and fearless. He’s like my mirror, I guess.”

Zayn’s neutral façade has cracked and now he’s smilingly stupidly at Liam. Louis knew they were that couple. He felt it in his bones. He narrows his eyes at Zayn but he’s smiling fondly at Liam while he continues telling his story.

Liam holds his hand out and gestures towards the ring. “I think it was a few years ago that he came up to me and knelt on one knee. He said ‘I already know we’re going to be together forever but will you marry me?’ and it wasn’t like I was going to say no. We haven’t actually got married yet because Zayn wants to do it on the moon and we have the time, so. Yeah. That’s it.” Liam flushes and his shoulders deflate.

Louis gives him a warm smile before looking towards Niall. He can feel Harry staring at him but he doesn’t know if he should look back. “It’s my turn, right?”

Niall nods and motions towards the cards. Louis hesitates before he takes a dare card. He hands it to Harry instead of Niall and of course the blond boy pouts but it makes his boyfriend smile so what does he care.

Then Harry grimaces at what’s written on the card and gives Louis a pitying look. “You—um, you have to let one of the boys make a smoothie and you have to drink it.”

Louis makes a considering face and then shrugs. “Liam seems like my best bet. Let’s go do it,” Louis jumps to his feet and he doesn’t miss the way Harry gives Liam an alarmed look.

“Don’t worry you pretty little head, I’ll be fine,” Louis promises, bending down to press a kiss to said pretty little head. He also tugs on one of Harry’s curls before pulling away with a smirk.

Harry’s lips part in surprise and Louis blows him a kiss before following Liam up the stairs. “So what’re we making, Payno?” Louis wonders, rubbing his hands together.

“Well, as I don’t want Harry killing me, we’re just going to go with a plain banana smoothie. I’m sure Harry will appreciate it later,” and then Liam nods like he’s planned this all out.

Louis snickers but gestures for Liam to get on with it.

They’re back in five minutes and Louis learns that Liam makes good smoothies. So far, his first truth or dare with them seems to be going well. He thinks Niall’s probably right about them being too fearful of the dares. He thinks he’ll make it his personal job to make them all a little reckless.

“Well?” Harry wonders and Louis smiles, patting his leg reassuringly.

“Niall’s turn!” Louis shouts and Zayn does a sarcastic little ’woohoo’ next to him.

Niall chooses dare as well and it’s to take a shower with all his clothes on. He comes back soaking wet and Louis wonders briefly if this is the bathroom version of truth or dare.

Zayn chooses a truth and he gets it easy when he’s asked to talk about his biggest secret. “I’m a vampire,” Zayn deadpans and Louis snickers to himself.

Then it’s Harry’s turn again and he chooses dare again. It’s to run naked down the street so they all pile up at the gate and watch as Harry streaks down the road in a blur of motion. Louis thinks it’s probably a good things that no one lives within a mile of them.

Liam’s turn involves a toothbrush and mustard and Louis laughs at his expression. After that it’s Louis’ turn again and he chooses dare.

He ends up having to do the cinnamon challenge and it doesn’t end well for him but it’s alright because Niall’s turn makes him stick his dick into the hole of his guitar. Louis doesn’t stop laughing for ten minutes after that and Niall just shrugs.

Zayn ends up having to twerk on top of a table and then when the table breaks, he just shrugs and says, “I don’t even care about the table breaking,” which sends Louis into another round of hysterics.

Harry’s turn makes him do the chubby bunny challenge and Louis watches with wide eyes as Harry stuffs four in at once and then a few more after that. After he gets around seven, he spits them out and says, “I’m allergic to marshmallows.”

Louis is in love with an idiot.

Liam’s turn makes him tape the thing that scares him most in the house to his forehead for the rest of the game and Louis is in honest disbelief when he sees him tape a spoon to his head.

“What,” Louis wonders flatly and Liam shrugs.

“They’re round. It’s weird,” and that’s the end of that.

Louis’ dare makes him jump into the pool in the backyard and he comes out with his teeth chattering. They move the game to the fireplace after that and Louis gets Harry cuddles so he supposes it’s alright.

After that, Louis starts to understand why they’re all usually plastered by the end of the game. After the third round, they all just give up because they get lazy and they all just throw back drinks instead of doing their turn. Louis thinks he’s probably got a high tolerance but he’d rather not get drunk so he keeps doing his turns. The rest of them don’t want to move so he keeps having to choose truth.

Around the seventh round, Zayn knocks out on top of Liam and they all agree to skip his turn. The tenth round involves Liam giving up and moving Zayn to the sleeping bags.

Then Niall calls quits and says, “I’m too sober for this,” before leaving too, falling onto his sleeping bag and getting his phone out.

Louis turns to look at Harry who shrugs. “It was either we played spin the bottle or truth or dare and you’re the only one who can’t make sure the bottle lands on who they want. Plus, I’m a little possessive. Just a little. Now come on, let’s go see what that flappy bird game is about.”

—

“I don’t get it—how do vampires even get tattoos?” Louis wonders as they enter the tattoo shop. Harry says the tattoo he’s getting is a surprise and Louis decided he was coming with.

“Maddie’s a vampire and she’s had a lot of time to figure it out. Science is amazing,” Harry mumbles before he waves cheerfully at the girl behind the counter.

She has dark hair and it’s up in a bun. When she whirls around, Louis sees the entire back is blue. “Oh, Harold. It’s you. And you brought a human! I haven’t tattooed one of them in—“ She pauses and lifts up her fingers to count before nodding to herself. “Four months! They never wander around this side of town.”

Harry laughs before he pulls Louis closer, wrapping an arm around his waist. “This is my boyfriend, Louis. I also don’t know if he’s getting a tattoo. I suggested matching tattoos but then I didn’t tell him what _I_ was getting so now he isn’t sure if he wants to match—“

Maddie cuts him off. “Relax, Haz. If he wants a tattoo, he’ll get a tattoo. Now come tell me what you want,” She orders, coming around the counter.

Harry grins, nodding before he takes a paper out of his jacket and hands it over to her. She unfolds it, squinting before her face softens. “That’s cute. That’s really cute. You—oh my God, let’s do this. Right now.”

Louis narrows his eyes but he follows after them. Harry leaves his jacket on a hook that they pass and Louis hesitates before hanging his up as well.

Maddie leads them into a back room and motions for Harry to sit down on a recliner. She brings over another chair and smiles at Louis so he assumes it’s for him. Harry sits down and rolls up his sleeve and Louis sits down next to him.

There’s a few noises and then Maddie comes back, sitting on her own stool. “Which one are you getting? The bigger or smaller one?”

“The bigger one,” Harry says before pointing towards the upper part of his arm. “Right there.”

Maddie raises an eyebrow and shrugs before getting her machinery. Harry turns to Louis and grins, mumbling, “I love the pain.”

Louis blinks before he laughs sharply because he isn’t surprised at all. “Like a permanent bruise, isn’t it? Think I read that somewhere. And you love your bruises. Makes sense.”

Harry just grins again and then sinks back in his seat, letting his eyes close. He holds his hand out though and Louis takes it, squeezing gently.

It takes an hour or two and Louis takes to playing games on his phone to pass the time. He doesn’t play flappy bird because after playing it for an hour with Harry, he’s decided the game is the spawn of the demon.

Harry made him promise not to look until it was done and while it takes extra effort, he doesn’t look. He makes idle conversation with Maddie instead because Harry knocks out five minutes in.

She’s nice enough and Louis hasn’t really gotten a chance to talk to a vampire outside of their cozy little circle for an extended amount of time, so he enjoys it.

He tells her about school and how he’s studying drama and she tells him about her friends. At one point, he hears her refer to someone as sunray and he thinks maybe it isn’t just his vampire friends that are weird. It’s literally all of them.

Maddie lets him wake Harry up when she’s done. Louis still hasn’t looked at the tattoo and he gently shakes Harry until he gets up. It works after a minute and Harry blinks his eyes open before looking over at Louis and smiling at him languidly.

“How does it look?”

Louis snorts and shakes his head. “I don’t know. You told me I couldn’t look until it was done.”

“Well, it’s done, isn’t it? Look at it,” Harry offers and Louis shoves him playfully before craning his head to get a look. It’s a ship. A huge ship, smack in the middle of his arm and Louis isn’t sure what to make of it so he gives Harry a questioning look.

“What does it mean?” He asks and Harry keeps smiling.

“The matching one is a compass. Because, you’ll always help me find my way home,” Harry murmurs and Louis feels like he’s been punched in the chest.

“You—shit, Harry. That’s permanent,” Louis breathes and Harry nods.

It takes Louis all of three seconds before he decides he’s getting the compass too. So he does and Harry holds his hand instead this time and has a lovely talk with Maddie about her sunray. Weird.

When it’s done, Harry helps him wrap it up and he thinks about what this means. He’s willing to get Harry on him permanently. It doesn’t feel like a stupid tattoo he got on a whim. It feels—it feels like it’s set in stone.

Zayn takes one look at Louis’ face when he sees the gauze on his arm and breaks into laughter. Louis decides his roommate is a sadist. It’s not much of a surprise.

—

Louis knows he’s a bit of an idiot sometimes but he really fucked up this time.

He’s wandering around shops, looking for Christmas gifts his sisters might like. Harry dropped him off half an hour ago and then he warned him not to go into the wrong side of town.

Louis should’ve asked which side was the wrong side of town. Now he’s lost in the middle of what looks to be an incredibly shady neighborhood and he thinks he’s probably going to die.

It occurs to him that he should probably text Harry but he doesn’t want to seem like he can’t take care of himself so doesn’t. That’s his first mistake.

The second is tripping over his own feet and falling on the sidewalk. He ends up scraping his knees and palms which doesn’t seem like a big deal at the time.

But then, his knee starts bleeding.

He doesn’t notice the shadows at first. He’s too busy trying to find a familiar street that when he hears the first wolf whistle, he nearly falls over again. Louis turns around and he sees a guy with blond hair smirking at him from the opposite side of the street.

Louis furrows his eyebrows before turning back around. He keeps walking but then he hears another wolf whistle. This time, when he turns all the way around, behind him are two brown haired guys. They’re grinning and they’re just down the block. They’re staring right at Louis.

As stupid as he is, he doesn’t lack basic survival skills. He’s not a _complete_ Bella Swan. That’s why he takes out his phone and calls the most recent number while walking.

“Hello?” Harry answers pleasantly on the end of the line and Louis frowns.

“Hey, I, um, I fucked up. I think I’m on the wrong side of town. There are these guys following me and they keep whistling. I don’t know what the hell is going on but do you think you could come save my ass?” Louis asks in a rushed tone, glancing over his shoulder to see the guys are walking after him. There’s four of them in all and they’re taking their sweet time.

“Whistling? Wolf whistling?” Harry’s voice is panicky now and Louis can hear him shuffling with his keys.

“Yeah,” Louis agrees and when he takes another look, all the guys are gone except for one.

“Fuck,” Harry curses and then Louis hears muffled words on the other end so he assumes Harry is covering the receiver. His voices comes back though and he instructs, “Keep walking. I’ll find you. If they come up to you, say you’re with Styles, okay?”

“Yeah, alright, I w—“ And then his phone is knocked out of his hand. “What the fuck?” Louis asks and the blonde guy from before is smiling at him.

“Don’t you know better than to be walking around the streets this late at night?” He purrs and Louis takes an instinctive step back.

“I didn’t know my walking around the streets this late affects you,” Louis snaps and he reaches for his phone but the guy steps on it, crushing it beneath his shoe.

“You’re about to find out, sweetheart,” He murmurs, taking a step closer to Louis.

Louis immediately takes another step back but he bumps into someone. He turns and it’s one of the two brown haired guys. “Going somewhere?” He sneers and Louis takes a step away from both of them.

“Stay away from me,” Louis orders and he keeps taking steps backwards. The other two guys end up flanking the two in front of him and then all four of them are walking towards him.

“What are you going to do if we don’t?” A different blonde asks and there’s a wicked look in his eye. It isn’t the same one Niall gets when he beats his high score on flappy bird. It’s much different. It scares Louis.

“Stay away from me,” Louis repeats before turning on his heel and running. He should’ve known they were vampires because they’re on him in seconds, standing in front of him.

“Don’t run, it won’t do you any good,” The first blonde promises, taking a step closer to Louis.

Louis flinches before announcing, “I’m with Styles,” in a last ditch attempt. The blond guy stops, giving Louis a questioning look.

The other three in the back are also giving him confused looks. “Styles? Harry Styles?” One of the brown haired asks, eyebrow raised and Louis nods quickly.

The other brown haired guy scoffs, shaking his head. “Oh, please. We all know Styles has Malik, Payne and Horan. That’s it. He doesn’t have a fucking _human_ in his circle.”

The other blond nods in agreement. “Yeah. He’s lying. He thinks it’ll help,” He says before pushing the blond guy in front. “Get on with it.”

The blond looks conflicted and Louis curses under his breath. He thinks about running again but he’ll probably die quicker if he tries. He really isn’t looking forward to dying.

It turns out that he doesn’t have to worry about it because a car turns the corner, headlights flashing and three people jump out while it’s still moving. Niall’s in front of him in a second, growling. He’s followed by Zayn who has a gun in his hand.

The next person is Harry and Louis exhales in relief. Harry gives him an apologetic look before he stands in between Niall and Zayn. Louis hears Liam slam on the brakes of the car and then he’s next to Zayn, holding a wooden stick in his hand.

“Fuck, it’s actually him,” The other brown haired mutters and all four of them are staring in wide eyed horror.

“What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing?” Harry asks, shoving a finger into the blond guy’s chest who trembles at the touch.

“We—we didn’t know he was with you,” The blond protests and Niall growls again, settling into a crouch.

“Oh? That’s funny because I’m pretty sure he _told_ you that he was with me. Don’t play this game with me,” Harry threatens and this time his whole hand pushes the blond guy’s chest, making him stumble back.

“He’s a human,” The blond replies, eyes shifting between the four of them. “How was I supposed to know he was telling the truth? He’s just another snack.”

It seems that isn’t the right answer because Zayn fires his gun, shooting the guy in the leg. He falls to the floor in pain while the three behind him look on in horror.

Niall crouches further and grabs the blond by his shirt collar, hissing something in his ear that Louis doesn’t hear. Then he snaps his neck. Louis can only stare in his own horror.

Liam’s on the other blond in a second and then there’s sickening snap before he’s on the ground too, neck bent at an odd angle. The two brown haired are cowering in fear now and Louis thinks he’s not far from doing the same.

“Pick up your fucking idiots of friends and tell everyone on this side of town that Louis is off limits,” Zayn orders, pointing his gun and they both nod, hurrying to grab the two limp bodies before they both disappear.

There’s a beat of silence before Niall straightens up and wipes dust off his shirt. “That’s always fun,” He says cheerfully and Zayn mutters an affirmative. Harry turns back around and there are veins under his eyes.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t think they’d try to hurt you,” Harry starts apologizing and the rest of the boys start walking towards the car.

“I’m—I’m alright. I didn’t—are they dead?” Louis asks because there’s a sinking feeling in his stomach and Harry immediately shakes his head.

“No, snapping a vampire’s neck is like knocking a human out. They’ll both be fine in a few hours,” Harry assures before his eyes run down the length of Louis’ body. “Are you hurt though? You don’t heal like they do.”

Louis nods again and this time he feels better because he knows he isn’t the cause for two deaths. “I’m fine. A bit scared though. I think my heart might pound of my chest.”

Harry frowns at that before he pulls Louis into him, hugging him tightly. Louis melts into it because here, he feels safe. With Harry, he feels safe.

They stand like that for a while before Harry finally pulls away and leads Louis to the car. They both sit in the back with Niall and Liam lets Niall play Justin Bieber’s latest album. Louis isn’t sure if he’s more traumatized from nearly being killed or Niall singing along off key to As Long As You Love Me.

It’s an even trade.

When they get back to the house, Zayn gives him a pat on the shoulder in the passing and then it really sinks in.

“I just almost died,” Louis says blankly and Harry gives him a worried look before he pulls them into his room.

“Are you okay?” Harry asks again, making Louis sit on the bed before taking both his hands in his larger ones.

Louis doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t say anything. That seems to make Harry more worried because he nudges Louis’ knee with his.

“Hey, say something, please,” Harry pleads quietly and Louis blinks a few times before answering.

“They were going to kill me.”

Harry’s frown deepens at that. Louis feels a little bad for being the cause and that helps him think a little clearer. “I—I know how to fight. I do. I know how to take care of myself but I’ve never been in a situation where my attackers were vampires,” Louis whispers and Harry pulls him into his arms then.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should’ve—I should’ve made an announcement or something that you were with us. I didn’t think they’d bother you and I should have. I’m so—shit, I’m so sorry.”

Louis shakes his head and he sets his head against Harry’s collarbone. “It isn’t your fault. I’m just really dumb. I’m a magnet for trouble. I’m Bella Swan, aren’t I?”

He feels when Harry feels a soft kiss to his forehead and it helps anchor him. “You’re not dumb, Louis. You’re—you’re amazing the way you are,” Harry murmurs but his voice sounds sad and Louis looks up at him in question.

Harry just gives him a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Maybe you should try taking a nap? It might help the shock wear off,” Harry recommends instead and Louis doesn’t even have the energy to decline.

“Yeah, is it alright if I knock out here?” Louis mumbles, gesturing towards the bed and Harry nods quickly before untangling himself from Louis.

“Always. What’s mine is yours,” Harry replies before he disappears in a blur of motion and then the lights turn off in the room.

Louis is left alone in the darkness and it’s not long before sleep overcomes him.

When he wakes up though, it’s to the sound of two voices in the room murmuring to each other. Louis keeps his eyes shut and doesn’t move just as Harry starts to speak again.

“I’ve honestly never been so scared in my life,” Harry admits quietly and Niall sighs. They’re both a few feet away from Louis, probably sitting on the small loveseat Harry has in his room.

“I can’t even imagine. I was ready to rip all their heads off myself but I think Louis was scared enough as it is,” Niall replies equally as quiet.

“That’s what scares me the most. Louis shouldn’t _have_ to be scared. He shouldn’t have been in that type of situation. I know Louis and he can protect himself but how the hell is he supposed to do that against a bunch of vampires?”

“He fairs pretty well against us,” Niall teases in attempt to lighten the mood but it doesn’t work and he continues in a more somber voice shortly afterwards. “Harry, we both know no matter what precautions you take or he takes, he won’t be able to protect himself. Not unless he becomes a full out vampire hunter and thanks, but no thanks.”

“Don’t even say that, please,” Harry mutters and he sounds so miserable that Louis almost risks giving away that he isn’t really asleep but then he decides against it last minute.

There’s a lingering silence before Niall continues in a higher pitch of tone. “That’s not the only option though. You know that, we all know that. I bet even _he_ knows that. You could always turn him, Harry. He’ll always be able to protect himself that way.”

Another extended silence and Louis wonders if they can hear the way his heart is pounding erratically in his chest.

“Of course I’ve thought of that, Niall. But I won’t do that—I’m not going to take away his life and his choices. None of us knew what we were getting into and I don’t want him to make that same mistake,” Harry mumbles and Niall makes a low noise in the back of his throat.

“Harry, that’s not true. We might not have known what we were getting into but that doesn’t make it a mistake. I’m happier here than I _ever_ was with my old family. Zayn and Liam are too. You’re our family now and so is he. So why don’t you do it? Take the last step and make him an actual part of the family. I don’t want the day to come when he’s old and dying and you regret not turning him. You’re the one making the mistake right now,” Niall berates and Harry doesn’t reply for a few minutes.

“I’m not going to make him make that decision. I’m not going to force him into choosing for my benefit. I can keep him safe for as long as he needs.”

Niall snorts. “We both know Louis hates being treated like he needs to be taken care of. There’s a reason he’s the one wearing the pants in the relationship.”

Louis assumes that Harry hits Niall because the blond boy lets out a yelp of pain before groaning, “That hurt, you shithead. You know it’s true. Louis isn’t going to let you protect him. It’s either you offer to turn him or become a paranoid mess every time he so much as gets a scratch. I think the answer is pretty simple.”

Harry makes a little broken noise at that. “I can’t do that, Niall. I can’t do that to him. I love him too much to make him choose a life that none of us wanted.”

“Why do you always do this, Harry? You finally found the one thing that makes you happy and you’re letting it slip through your fingers. Don’t do that, please. I don’t want you to lose your purpose in life now that you’ve finally found it,” Niall murmurs and Harry seems to whimper.

Louis’ heart feels heavy and he has to blink his eyes a few times to make sure he doesn’t start doing something stupid like crying. He hates that he’s the reason that Harry’s getting like this. He doesn’t want Harry to ever be sad and now he is because of him.

“I can’t do it, Niall,” Harry repeats before continuing with, “I can’t pressure him into it. I don’t know what to do,” and this time his voice cracks.

Niall doesn’t say anything else after that and a few minutes later, there’s a sound of a door opening and closing.

Louis feels the bed dip with Harry’s weight and then there’s an arm thrown over his waist and a face tucked against his back. He feels Harry’s fingers tracing patterns on to his arm and he decides to turn around.

He rolls over so he’s facing Harry and the curly haired boy starts in surprise, blinking owlishly a few times. Louis can sees his eyes are rimmed red but it isn’t from blood rushing to his eyes—it’s the look someone gets after crying and that makes Louis feels sick to his stomach.

“Why won’t you?” Louis asks quietly and Harry seems to break out of his stunned reverie at that.

“What? Were you awake this entire time?” Harry wonders, eyebrows furrowed together and Louis reaches up to smooth the little ‘v’ that forms between them.

“Yeah, I was,” Louis admits. “So why won’t you? Why won’t you turn me?” He doesn’t really mean for it to come out but all he can think is that if he was a vampire, then Harry wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore—he wouldn’t have to be sad over him.

“Is that what you want?” Harry murmurs and despite the darkness of the room, Louis can see the way the way his eyes are wide with something akin to fear.

Louis thinks his own eyes reflect that because he’s suddenly hit with the actual possibility of becoming a vampire. Of being young forever and never having to worry about all the things that come with growing up.

And he wants it. He wants it so bad but there’s something stopping him. It’s the idea of him being selfish and leaving his family behind. He doesn’t know if he can do that—he doesn’t know if he can be happy knowing that they’re not.

“I—I don’t know,” Louis mumbles, turning his head away and Harry reaches up to brush Louis’ fringe out of his eyes before tilting Louis’ head up carefully by his chin.

“You don’t have to choose now. I’m not going to force you into anything, Louis. This is your life and you get to choose what do with it. I’m not taking your choices away from you, I wouldn’t do that,” Harry promises softly and Louis doesn’t know his own answer but he knows he loves him. He loves Harry so much that it threatens to choke him, to rip his heart out by the strings.

Louis falters momentarily and Harry’s fingers pressing lightly again his jaw gets him to talk again. “Can I wait until I go home? To make my decision? I don’t know if I can make it without seeing my family,” Louis admits lowly and Harry immediately nods.

“Whatever you want, love,” Harry agrees earnestly and Louis has to reach up to pull Harry into a kiss because his feelings for the taller boy are threatening to overtake him if he doesn’t.

He pulls back shortly after and he murmurs, “Thank you,” under his breath because he doesn’t know how he got lucky enough to have Harry in his life. Harry’s only response is to kiss him again.

—

Everything is a bit stilted after that because it’s all Louis can think of. It’s probably a good thing that all his exams are over because he doesn’t know how he would get through them otherwise.

Harry’s offer runs through his mind on a loop and he can’t stop considering all the things that could go wrong and all the things that could go right. He ends making a chart and sticking it to his wall.

When Zayn sees it, he doesn’t say anything. He just offers Louis a nod before he turns on Doctor Who for Louis to watch. It doesn’t really help because then he starts thinking of the way The Doctor loves Rose but he has to live on while Rose will inevitably die and he has to leave the room.

Harry takes him on a date to see a play though and Louis falls in love with him all over again. At the end of the week, Louis is packed to go home and Harry says he’ll drive to so they climb into one of Harry’s multiple cars and just go.

The playlist that plays is one of the many Harry’s made for Louis and each song makes Louis give Harry a different sort of smile.

Louis’ mother knows he’s bringing a boy home and when he spoke to her over the phone, she nearly screamed his ear off. It’s probably because he’s never brought a boy home before.

He’s a little worried but he knows that Harry will charm the entire Tomlinson family within seconds. Louis ends up falling asleep on the way there and it’s dark when Harry wakes him up.

Along with both their clothes, Harry has a freezer in the back filled with blood bags and Louis doesn’t know if that makes him more worried or relieved.

When Louis rings the doorbell, Lottie answers and she gives Harry an appraising look before she greets them with, “Louis, who’s the cute guy you kidnapped?”

Harry lets out a startled laugh at that and Louis glowers before pushing his way through the door. He puts his bags down by the stairs and then he’s attacked on both sides by the twins who scream, “Louis!”

Louis feels the glower melt of his face and he grins before bending down to hug both of them. “You two are my favorites,” He tells them seriously before looking up at Harry who’s still standing in the doorway. “This is my boyfriend, Harry. Be nice to him.”

They both nod seriously before turning to Harry. “I’m Daisy and she’s Phoebe. We both like your curly hair. Also, your jeans are too tight,” Daisy says, tugging on the where Harry’s jeans are bunched up at the knee.

Harry giggles because he’s a man child and then he bends down to hug them too. While Harry’s doing that, Felicite comes down the stairs and pokes Louis in the back. “Is it true you kidnapped him?” She asks and Louis shoots a glare at Lottie who’s smirking by the door.

“No, I did not. You know you’re not supposed to listen to Lottie. She’s evil, remember?” Louis reminds and Lottie makes a disgruntled noise.

“And you’re still the same,” Felicite replies, raising an eyebrow before walking over to stand next to Lottie.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Louis mutters to Harry who snickers before holding his hand out for them to shake.

“I’m Harry, nice to meet you both,” Harry says and they both give him matching looks of disbelief but shake his hand nonetheless.

When Harry’s attention is turned back to the twins, Louis hisses, “Be nice,” at the two of them. They both give him raised eyebrows at the same time and Louis keeps staring pointedly.

Finally, Felicite nods. He doesn’t get to see if Lottie does too because he hears someone clear their throat behind him. Louis turns slowly and when he sees his mum, he grins.

Jay rolls her eyes and Louis pulls her into a hug. When he pulls back, he gestures towards Harry who’s strangely, still standing at the door. “Mum, this is my boyfriend, Harry.”

Harry smiles charmingly, holding his hand out again. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Tomlinson,” He declares and his mother shakes her head.

“Call me Jay, please,” She insists and Harry nods.

“Whatever you’d like,” Harry agrees with a pleasant look on his face but Louis can see there’s something bothering him.

Louis feels a smile curl at his own lips in attempt to make sure his mother doesn’t ask questions because he isn’t sure what’s wrong with Harry but he doesn’t need his mother to get suspicious either. “Well, mum, we’re going to head on upstairs and put away the luggage. It was a long trip,” Louis starts and Jay is quick to shush him.

“It’s fine! Go ahead, one of the girls will call you for dinner,” She says and Louis smiles gratefully before giving Harry a pointed look.

Harry offers him a panicked expression and in return, Louis gives him a questioning one back. Harry beckons for him to come closer so he does and when he’s near enough, Harry whispers, “I can’t come in unless I’m directly invited in by the owner. It’s to protect humans from us invading their homes.”

Louis parts his lips in surprise before casting a glance towards where his mother is leaving. He immediately calls her back, saying, “Mum, aren’t you going to invite Harry in?”

Jay turns around before laughing, her expression flustered. “Well, of course! Come on in, Harry. Don’t know why Louis let you stand out there anyways.”

Harry just gives her a tight lipped smile and then Louis watches as he gingerly puts one foot through the doorway. When it works, his smile become real and he picks up their bags before heading for the stairs. Louis laughs awkwardly and follows after him. He feels his mother’s eyes on him all the way until they get to the top.

Then he shoves Harry against the nearest wall and kisses him because Harry’s quite lovely and Louis loves him a lot.

He says as much when he pulls back and Harry just grins before they go to the guest room that used to be Louis’ less than a few months ago.

It’s weird to be home, in the four walls that he spent his teenage years. He thinks about all things that have changed and all the things that haven’t.

He thinks about how this time, he has a beautiful boy on his side. How he’s a different person. How he’s grown and how he’s not the same old Louis anymore.

“It’s so weird being here,” Louis admits as Harry puts their bags down.

Harry snorts before mumbling, “Wait until you see my house. Can I even call it my house? I’ve never lived in it so, maybe I’ll call it my mum’s house. Yeah, that works,” and Louis shakes his head fondly.

“What are you even talking about? You do talk some shit sometimes, mate,” Louis teases and Harry pouts.

“Don’t be mean, tomorrow’s Christmas eve,” Harry replies, but his eyes are twinkling faintly.

“It’s also my birthday, so I’ll do what I damn well please,” Louis says back and Harry just tackles him onto the bed making them both fall into a fit of giggles.

After Louis unpacks all the girls’ gifts, there’s a knock on the door and Felicite is standing there with a grin. “Dinner’s ready,” She informs before walking away.

“I think my sisters have all turned to the dark side,” Louis announces to Harry who giggles and then he appears in front of Louis in a second.

“They’re teenagers, Lou. What did you expect?” Harry wonders and Louis pouts.

“You’re supposed to be on my side,” He whines and Harry settles his hands on Louis’ waist before brushing their noses together.

“I am on your side. And I always will be,” Harry whispers and Louis smiles but then someone knocks on the door again before anything else can happen.

It’s Phoebe this time, apologizing for the fact that she didn’t get Harry a Christmas present. Harry, of course, looks incredibly besotted and then he proceeds to leave Louis to give Phoebe a piggyback down the stairs.

Louis quits.

Dinner is eventful and it takes just over an hour before everyone in the Tomlinson family is as in love with Harry as he is. Even Dan seems to take a liking to him.

Another thing Louis notices is that they’re all happy. His family—everyone’s happy. His mother is glowing with it and he sees the same expression on his sister’s faces.

Then Jay announces she’s pregnant with twins and Louis chokes on his mashed potatoes. It explains a lot though and it takes Louis a good moment but he realizes that his family is happy. That’s all he’s ever wanted.

It’s also the only thing that was stopping him from saying yes to Harry. But now, Louis feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest and he feels a bright smile bloom on his face.

He can be selfish this once because he isn’t being selfish. Everyone he cares about is happy and this is the only thing Louis has ever wanted, so why shouldn’t he be happy too?

Louis squeezes Harry’s hand under the table and when Harry looks over, Louis smiles. Harry looks confused but he smiles and he squeezes Louis’ hand back.

After dinner, they go upstairs and Louis lets himself have a second thought. About whether he really wants this. He doesn’t have to think for long though because out of the corner of his eye, he catches Harry staring at him fondly and that answers the question for him.

“Harry?” Louis calls and Harry flushes at being caught but he doesn’t stop staring, instead he just nods before pushing the door open to their room.

“Yeah?”

Louis waits a moment, until the door is closed behind them before he says, “Yes.”

Harry furrows his eyebrows at that, taking a seat on the bed and pulling Louis down with him. “Yes?” He repeats in confusion and Louis starts to smile.

“Yes,” Louis agrees and then continues, “I want to be a vampire.”

Harry’s eyes widen followed by his mouth dropping open. “You—now?” Harry asks, disbelief coloring his tone and Louis nods.

“Yeah, now. I don’t want to be twenty two tomorrow,” Louis says and Harry looks at a loss for words.

Of course, the words he gets out are, “Wait, you want to be forever twenty one?” and Louis groans.

“That was bad. Horrible. I take it back. I take everything back,” Louis says in response but then he grins and shakes his head. “Yeah, Harry. I want to be forever twenty one.”

“You—Louis, seriously?” Harry asks and there’s a smile curling at this lips now too.

Louis gives him a flat look but it probably turns out fonder than he’d like. “Would I joke about this? Yeah, seriously.”

Then Harry’s full on grinning and Louis is being hugged like his life depends on it. “You’re sure? I don’t want you to end up regretting this.”

Louis nods, smiling. “I’m sure.”

That seems to settle it for Harry because he pulls away from Louis and bites into his wrist before holding it out to Louis.

Louis shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again. He takes Harry’s wrist gently and brings it to his mouth.

The taste of blood fills his mouth and he cringes a little but he doesn’t stop. After a minute or two, Harry pulls his wrist back and Louis has to take another deep breath.

“You’re completely sure?” Harry makes sure one time and Louis exhales sharply before he nods again.

“This time, you can kiss me and kill me,” Louis whispers before pulling Harry into a bruising kiss. Harry’s hands come up on either side of his neck and the last thing Louis sees is Harry’s eyes before everything blacks out followed by a snap.

—

Louis wakes up to darkness. He blinks his eyes open and it takes him a few seconds to get accustomed to the change. Then he sees Harry in front of him, holding his hand and it all comes rushing back.

“I—I’m dead?” Louis wonders and Harry nods, brushing his thumb along Louis’ knuckles.

“You have twenty four hours to drink human blood otherwise you’ll actually die. I have some in a glass for you there,” Harry murmurs, gesturing towards the nightstand where there’s a glass full of dark red liquid.

The itching in Louis’ throat makes itself known then. It doesn’t feel any different than him being thirsty for water and that isn’t what he expected. He sits up slowly and he notices the shades are pulled shut.

“I need an amulet,” Louis realizes and Harry nods.

“We’ll get you one when we leave tomorrow night. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to keep you out of the sun. I’m not going to let you get hurt,” Harry promises.

Louis feels love burst in his chest for Harry and it’s different. It feels different. It’s as if his heart has expanded to ten times its normal size and even that doesn’t describe it right.

“I love you,” Louis announces and Harry smiles, dimples appearing.

“I love you back,” Harry replies before gesturing towards the glass. “Go on.”

Louis reaches for the glass and brings it to his lips. He shuts his eyes before he takes a sip and it tastes _good_ is the thing. It didn’t when Harry was feeding him his blood last night but now it does.

He drinks the entire thing quickly and blinks his eyes open. Harry is still staring at him with a smile. Louis lowers the glass and smiles back.

Harry’s smile grows then. “Happy birthday, Louis.”

—

The next two days pass by in a blur of blood, seeing his family at night and giving and receiving gifts. Harry helps him the entire time, keeps a steadying hand on his back when he feels a little overwhelmed.

Christmas night, they leave and Louis promises his mom that he’ll visit them soon. Harry’s hand squeezes his and it feels like a promise.

They drive back to London where Louis gets to actually meet their friendly neighborhood witch. Harry has already picked out a ring for Louis to use as his amulet and when Louis sees it, he starts crying. He doesn’t know why but he suddenly realizes that this boy in front of him is _his_ for the rest of all time.

After they get the ring, they go straight to Harry’s parent’s bungalow. They have a few days until they’re supposed to arrive and they make use of it.

Louis decides vampire sex is much better than human sex could ever dream of being.

One of the nights when Louis is cleaning up a sleepy looking Harry, the curly haired boy stops him. “Louis,” Harry starts and Louis raises an eyebrow, setting the wet wipe down.

“Yes?” Louis asks and Harry smiles dopily at him. He gets like this a lot after sex but now Louis doesn’t think they should talk about it. They have all of eternity to talk.

“Are you hungry?” Harry murmurs and his fingers come up to brush Louis’ fringe out of his eyes then he taps Louis’ nose. Louis goes a little cross eyed and Harry grins.

“Not particularly. I wouldn’t mind some blood, but why?” Louis wonders and Harry keeps smiling.

“Vampires—we do this thing. It’s called blood sharing. Where you drink the other person’s blood and it’s the most intimate thing that we can do.”

Louis raises his eyebrows at that. “Are you offering or suggesting?”

Harry blinks and it takes him a while to answer because he’s still in the place in his head that he goes sometimes. “Both?”

Louis suppresses the urge to laugh so instead he presses a kiss against the skin of Harry’s wrist before meeting Harry’s eyes and biting in.

It doesn’t taste any different but it feels different. It makes him think that yeah, maybe soul mates do exist because right now he feels like his soul is tied to Harry’s.

Then he offers his own wrist to Harry, letting it brush against his raw lips. Harry takes a moment to register what’s happening but then he bites down too.

Louis lets out a hiss but it’s more of pleasure than pain. When they both finally pull back, he notices that Harry’s hard.

He snorts. “Again?”

Harry pouts before shaking his head. “No, just come cuddle with me. Don’t be such a twat.”

Louis grins but then he does end up cuddling with Harry for a good few hours, before the sun wakes him up. Or at least, that’s what he thinks at first.

But then there’s voice that’s distinctly female shouting, “Mum, I found them! And I think they’re naked! Mum, get the camera!”

Louis blinks his eyes open in surprise and Gemma is standing in the doorway grinning. Harry groans and he tosses a pillow towards her which she easily catches.

“Get up Haz, I think you have some explaining to do,” She teases and then flits out of the room. It takes thirty minutes but then the both of them do eventually get out of bed and go to see Harry’s family.

Louis should’ve known they were all as charming as Harry is. Even Gemma, after she stops teasing Harry relentlessly.

Anne feels like a second mother and Robin supports the same football teams as he does. He thinks Harry’s family is probably perfect.

Louis realizes he had no reason to be nervous because even before Anne knew he was a vampire, she pulled him into a hug and he thinks that’s where Harry gets all his kindness from. He says as much and she smiles.

When Harry explains that Louis is a vampire, everyone kind of goes quiet before Gemma exclaims, “ _Finally_ ,” and they all start hugging Louis again.

He rings in the New Year by kissing his boyfriend and he doesn’t think he’s ever been as happy as he is, right then. When he first walked onto campus, he didn’t know that this would be his life. He didn’t know that his new beginning would actually be a new beginning.

He didn’t know he would meet Harry but he thinks fate has a funny way of working itself out.

—

The one problem that completely slipped his mind was Stan.

When he gets back to his dorm after Harry drops him off, he doesn’t expect to see Stan standing in front of his room.

Louis frowns at him and Stan just gives him a flat look in response. “We’re talking today. I don’t give a fuck,” He declares and Louis flinches.

The door opens unexpectedly then. Zayn comes out with a bored look and he gestures towards Stan. “I tried to get him to leave but it didn’t—Louis, _shit_ ,” Zayn cuts off and his eyes widen as looks over Louis. “Did you—did he—fuck, why did no one _tell_ me?”

And then Zayn walks over and pulls Louis into a hug. “Welcome to the family,” Zayn murmurs in his ear and Louis feels a pleasant feeling run all the way down his toes.

“Thanks,” He mumbles back as Zayn pulls away. Zayn’s grinning brightly now and it’s such a change from the first day. Everything’s changed and Louis likes it better now.

“You can have the room. I need to go find Liam and tell him. He’s been waiting for this since he gave you Harry’s number,” Zayn informs before giving Louis another quick hug and then jogging down the hallway to the elevator.

Louis waves after him and then stares back at Stan who’s watching him like a hawk.

“Do we really have to—“ Louis starts and Stan just walks into Louis’ dorm without a single word.

Louis sighs and follows after him, pulling his luggage with him. He closes the door behind him and the first thing that comes out Stan’s mouth is, “They’re vampires.”

“I know,” Louis replies, putting his bags down.

“No, Louis, I swear—wait, you know?” Stan repeats, eyes furrowing and Louis nods.

“I’ve known for a while now, mate.”

Stan looks even more confused at this, frowning. “What do you mean you’ve known for a while now? You’re still dating Styles,” Stan points out.

Louis rolls his eyes, moving to sit down on his bed. “Yeah, I’m aware. Also, don’t call him that. His name is Harry.”

“I don’t care what his name is, Louis. He could kill you. Does he—does he drink off of you? Is that why he keeps you around?” Stan asks and Louis pulls a face.

“He’s my boyfriend, Stan. I love him,” is what Louis replies and Stan gives him an aghast look.

Then he shakes his head vehemently, like the possibility of Louis loving Harry is ridiculous. “He’s a vampire. You can’t love him.”

Louis frowns before he decides he might as well tell Stan himself so he shrugs and asks, “Do you love me? Mate to mate?”

Stan gives him a strange look. “What do you mean do I love you? Of course I do. You’re my best mate, even if you’re a dumbass who’s going to get himself killed.”

“How can you love me if I’m a vampire?” Louis asks and then holds his breath.

Stan opens his mouth to reply but then he falters and his mouth falls open. He’s staring at Louis in disbelief and it takes him a whole minute to get the words out of his mouth. “You’re a vampire?”

“In the flesh,” Louis replies before baring his teeth. He can feel the blood flowing to the veins under his eyes and Stan immediately steps back, tripping over his own feet and just barely catching himself.

“You’re—you’re one of them. You’re a vampire. Louis, what the fuck? How did—why did you—did he turn you? Did he force you?” Stan’s quick to accuse Harry and Louis sighs, letting his face go back to normal.

“No, Stan. I wanted this. You know me, Stan. I never wanted to grow up. I wanted to be young and travel the world. I wanted to fall in love with beautiful cities and then fall in love with the same person in every single one. I found the person, Stan. It’s Harry,” Louis admits slowly, watching Stan’s reaction.

Stan doesn’t do anything much other than gape at Louis, so he continues. “He gave me the choice and I took it. I wanted this, Stan. I want to be with him forever and now I can be. Is that so wrong?”

Louis isn’t expecting Stan to reply but then it seems like those words clear something up for him because he gives Louis a look of wonder. “You—you love him? He loves you?”

He nods, before confirming, “Yeah, Stan. We love each other.”

Stan seems to accept that but then he gets a wary look in his eyes. “But you kill people.”

Louis shakes his head immediately. “I don’t. We don’t. None of us in our circle kill anyone,” He promises and Stan’s look fades back into one of wonder.

“You’re—you’re happy?” Stan asks and this time Louis smiles.

“I’ve never been so happy, Stan. But I’ll be happier if this doesn’t change things between us. If you stay my friend,” Louis answers earnestly and he can see the way that the fight visibly leaves Stan, making him slump his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” Stan says quietly. “But I—I can try. If you’re willing to try, then I am.”

Louis feels his smile grow at that. “Then we have a deal,” Louis agrees and then he holds out his pinky. It’s something he used to do with Stan when he was younger and it’s clear that Stan remembers because he takes the few steps that are in between them and links his pinky with Louis’.

He pulls back just as Liam bursts into the room, followed by Zayn. “Louis, you’re actually a—“ Then he cuts off when he sees Stan.

Stan stands there awkwardly for a second before hitching a thumb towards the door. “I guess I’ll just go then. Text me when we can hang out or something, okay?” and Louis nods.

After Stan leaves, Zayn shuts the door and Louis lets out an undignified noise as the two of them engulf him in a hug. “He turned you! He actually turned you! I didn’t think he’d have the guts to do it but he really did!” Liam exclaims, pulling back with a grin.

Then Niall bursts into the room as well, out of breath. “I’ve never ran that fast in my life but is it true? Is he really a vampire?”

Zayn snickers and Niall looks up to see Louis standing there. Then there’s another group hug and Louis has to struggle to breathe.

“Guys, guys, I feel loved and everything, but _please_ get the fuck off me,” Louis pleads and they all let go at the same time.

There’s a pause before Niall says, “Wow, he really is part of the family,” and then Zayn and Liam start laughing. Louis just rolls his eyes and breathes.

For once, that’s enough.

—

“Where are we _going_?” Louis wonders and Harry giggles but he keeps his hands over Louis’ eyes.

“Don’t be so nosy,” Harry scolds.

Louis just sighs. It’s the day before their spring break starts and Harry has been hinting at a surprise all week but Louis can’t figure it out. He’s tried asking the rest of the boys but they all shoo him away when he comes knocking on their doors.

“I just want to know what it is,” Louis whines and Harry keeps giggling.

“Well, you’ll find if you just stopped talking and kept walking with me _patiently_ ,” Harry replies and Louis sticks his tongue because that’s what Harry would do if their spots were switched.

“Cute,” Harry teases and then they come to a stop. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready for ages,” Louis reminds and Harry lightly kicks his shin in reply.

Then he takes his hands off Louis’ eyes and they’re in the backyard. Louis isn’t sure what the surprise is until he sees a trail of rose petals leading somewhere.

“Is this supposed to be romantic?” Louis wonders but he’s teasing and he knows Harry can tell.

Harry snorts before shrugging. “Sorry I didn’t live up to your standards, love. Now follow the trail, you impatient little nymph,” Harry replies and Louis shoves him before he runs away, following the trail.

It’s still so strange to be able to move so quickly but clearly Harry’s planned ahead because the trail makes him zig and zag. When he finally gets to the end, there’s a letter on a small stool.

Louis comes to a stop and he starts walking. He knows Harry’s behind him because he can hear his quiet breathing.

“What is it?” Louis asks and Harry laughs.

“Open it and find out for yourself,” Harry replies, sounding too smug for Louis’ liking. Louis flips him off before picking up the letter.

He takes his time and carefully tears it open. Louis ends up pulling out two plane tickets. He blinks in surprise and then gives it a second look over.

They’re plane tickets to New York for tomorrow and it takes a moment to sink in. “Holy shit,” Louis mumbles and Harry laughs again.

“Do you like it?”

Louis turns to give him an incredulous look and he drops the tickets in favor of jumping into Harry’s arms instead.

Harry’s prepared though and he grabs Louis easily. Louis smiles down at him, before answering. “I do. I love it. But there’s something I love more.”

He wraps his arms around Harry’s neck and Harry smiles before whispering, “And what’s that, love?”

Louis playfully bites down on Harry’s nose before murmuring, “You. I love you, Harry. I love you so much I can’t explain even explain it in words. But guess what?”

Harry tilts his head and asks, “What?”

Louis presses their foreheads together and says, “I have forever to try,” and then he kisses Harry, because he can and he always will be able to.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are always, always appreciated. My twitter is [@deepestIove](http://twitter.com/deepestIove/) as I mentioned before and my tumblr is [lourrynavy](http://lourrynavy.tumblr.com/) if you'd like to further contact me! :)


End file.
